1st Mass controversy: of the Don Jose Ecleo Memorial Foundation
It's Limasawa College of Science and Technology in Surigao del
By Jani Arnaiz
FOUR hundred seventy-eight years and the
celebration begins.
Now, Southern Leyteños and the rest of the Filipino
people could heave a sigh of relief over the
controversy surrounding the site of the First Mass
which ushered in the Christianization of the
Philippines. The issue is resolved.
The first ever Christian Mass in the country on
March 31, 1521 was celebrated in the island of
Limasawa, south of Leyte and not in Butuan City,
so declared the National Historical Institute.
The finding was reached by the Gancayco
Commission--composed of retired Supreme Court
Justice Emilio A. Gancayco as chair, lawyer
Bartolome C. Fernandez and Dr. Maria Luisa T.
Camagay--which was created in May 1996 by the
NHI to ''resolve a very sensitive historical issue
facing our country and our people.''
''It is the . . . view of the panel that, upon a
preponderance of evidence culled from the primary
sources, the first ever Christian Mass on Philippine
soil on March 31, 1521 was celebrated in the island
of Limasawa south of Leyte,'' concluded the
commission in its 24-page decision.
In its conclusion, the commission said ''the panel
closes the presentation confident that any and all
lingering doubts regarding such historical detail are
now put to rest. Paraphrasing what the Bible
proclaims, the truth about a bygone era in
Philippine history shall set us free.''
The Gancayo Commission submitted its findings to
Samuel K. Tan, chair and executive director of the
NHI on March 20, 1998. But this finding was only
formally turned over to Limasawa officials on March
31, during the 478th anniversary of the First Mass.
It was a poignant event for the spectators of the
celebration when Violeta Barcelon Omega, director
Norte, handed over the original NHI decision given
to her by Tan to Limasawa Mayor Albert
Esclamado.
Tan also formally announces through a press
statement that he has adopted the finding reached
by the Gancayo Commission, to put to a close the
Limasawa-Butuan controversy.
Findings
The commission concluded that the First Mass was
held in Limasawa after it found that:
l The most complete and reliable account of the
Magellan expedition into Philippine shores in 1521
is that of Antonio Pigafetta which is deemed as the
only credible primary source of reports on the
celebration of the first Christian Mass on Philippine
soil.
l James Robertson's English translation of the
original Italian manuscript of Pigaffeta's account is
most reliable for being ''faithful'' to the original text
as duly certified by the University of the Philippines'
Department of European Language.
l Pigafetta's Mazaua, the site of the first Christian
Mass held on Philippine soil, is an island lying off
the southwestern tip of Leyte while Masao in
Butuan is not an island but a barangay of Butuan
City located in a delta of the Agusan River along
the coast of Northern Mindanao. The position of
Mazaua, as plotted by Pigafetta, matched that of
Limasawa.
l The measurement of distances between
Homonhon and Limasawa between Limasawa and
Cebu, as computed by the pro-Limasawa group,
matches or approximates the delineations made by
Pigafetta of the distances between Homonhon and
Mazaua and between Mazaua and Cebu.
l Magellan's fleet took a route from Homonhon to
Mazaua and from Mazaua to Cebu that did not at
any time touch Butuan or any other part of
Mindanao. The docking facilities at Limasawa did
not pose any problem for Magellan's fleet which
anchored near or at some safe distance from the
island of the eastern shore.
To the Gancayco Commission, ''History is both a
useful and fascinating subject. As one travels
through time, one is bound to find it rich in stories.
Every kind of testimony is drawn upon from
eyewitness accounts to statistical tables. Personal
records, such as diaries, can certainly tell more
than the official documents.
''One of the great delights of time travel is
encountering the unfamiliar for that is what brings
history to life. We use history, not to tell us what
happened or to explain the past, but make the past
alive so that it can explain us and make a future
possible,'' the commission said, quoting from Allan
Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind.
In writing and end to the controversy, the
commission said it proceeded with utmost care.
It said that the conclusion was made to enlighten
the current generation and remove all confusion
about where the First Mass was held in the
Philippines.
Paraphrasing Adlai Stevenson's, ''We can chart our
future clearly and wisely when we know the path
that has led to the present,'' the panel said: ''The
path is now conclusively established to have begun
at the island of Limasawa where the first ever
Christian Mass on Philippine soil was offered on
March 31, 1521 by Ferdinand Magellan and his
men.''
The controversy
As recounted by Pigafetta in his chronicle of
Magellan's expedition to the Philippine islands
starting March 16, 1521, the first Christian Mass
celebrated on Philippine soil was made in an island
which he called ''Mazaua.''
The precise identity and location of this venue of
the First Mass became the subject of writings of
historians and scholars whose differing
interpretations of Pigafetta's account would
eventually spawn lead to a controversy.
For three centuries, it was the prevailing belief that
Pigafetta's Mazaua was a place called Masao near
Butuan City in Northern Mindanao. The Butuan
belief persisted from the 17th to the 19th century.
Limasawa was identified as the most likely venue in
1894 with the publication of a manuscript of
Pigafetta's account of Magellan's voyage--the
Ambrosian codex in Milan--in its Italian text.
This work written by Pigafetta was made available
to scholars including American James Alexander
Robertson who translated into English the original
text with the help of Emma Blair. The translation
was incorporated in Robertson's ''The Philippine
Islands.''
According to Fr. Miguel A. Bernal, SJ, an author,
the only versions of Pigafetta's account available to
previous scholars were ''summaries and garbled
translations.''
To understand why Pigafetta's original text was not
available to past scholars, Fr. Peter Schreurs,
M.S.C., Ph.D., parish priest of Magallanes town
where Butuan's Mazaua is located, said the
manuscript given to Charles V was never published
and was considered lost.
Fr. Schreurs in his book ''The Search for Pigafetta's
Mazaua,'' said the other copy of the book was given
to the mother of the King of France.
The said book was mentioned in various reports
between 1526 and 1534 when an abridged French
version was produced and translated into Italian.
This was later used by authors and cartographers.
But the controversy did not stop there. In 1995, the
Masao group through Butuan Rep. Charito Plaza,
initiated the filing of a bill, to ''Declare the site of
Masao, Butuan City, as the place where the first
Easter Mass in the Philippines was held.'' The bill
was not acted upon.
The bill, which aggravated the controversy, was
obviously an attempt to repeal Republic Act 2733, a
law enacted in 1960, ''declaring the site in
Magallanes, Limasawa island in the province of
Leyte, where the First Mass in the Philippines was
held as a national shrine.''
It was in 1971 when residents and visitors saw the
grandeur of the First Mass celebration prepared by
former President Ferdinand Marcos and his wife,
Imelda, who is from Leyte. The celebration was the
450th anniversary.
Pedencio Olojan, 90, said he could not remember
any activities at all related to the First Mass.
But he recalled that when he was 18 years old he
was digging for treasure with several other treasure
hunters. He failed to find any treasure but a friend
sold him an artifact for P100. That was 81 years
ago. Some of the treasures which his friend dug up
are now in a museum in Butuan City.
Deafening silence
With the wealthy Plaza clan backing the Masao
claim, Southern Leyte could only answer with a
deafening silence.
Lawyer Joaquin Chung Jr., whose research on the
First Mass brought him to Europe, blamed the past
political leaders of Southern Leyte for not taking up
the cause of Limasawa while Plaza lambasted the
Limasawa claim in the halls of Congress.
Southern Leyte then belonged to Club 20, the term
coined for the country's 20 poorest provinces.
But former Rep. Roger Mercado and Gov. Oscar
Tan stood up for Limasawa in 1996 when they
prepared a feast to mark the 475th anniversary of
the First Mass. Frantic preparations were made to
usher in VIP visitors and dignitaries who were
expected to attend the jubilee celebration.
In the end, it was only Rhett Pelaez, then
presidential assistant for the Visayas, who came.
Pelaez then declared: ''It is immaterial whether the
site of the First Mass was in Masao or Limasawa,
what matters is we are here celebrating.''
Victory day
But on March 31, Limasawa Island saw the arrival
not only of mainland Leyte residents but also of
foreign dignitaries, led by Enrique Michel, Mexican
ambassador to the Philippines, to celebrate
Limasawa's ''victory.''
The 478th anniversary was a feast as the province
and Limasawa were celebrating not only the
decision of NHI but also the donation made by Rev.
Vicente Dayagbil Sr., bishop of the Philippine
Independent Church, of the lot where the First
Mass Shrine now sits.
Leyteños also celebrated the restoration of the
shrine's chapel, courtesy of the Maasin Knight of
Columbus and the pledges made by the
governments of Spain and Portugal to help finance
the construction of a 50-foot monument of the
Risen Christ at the highest point of the island to
commemorate the First Mass and the first recorded
meeting between Eastern and Western cultures.
For Gov. Rosette Yñiguez-Lerias, the 478th
celebration was also the start of the social,
educational and economic exchanges of East and
West.
http://firstcircumnavigator.tripod.com/limasawa.
htm
The National Historical Institute (NHI)
and Congress, through RA 2733
enacted in 1960 declared that the “First
Mass” in the Philippines was held at
Limasawa Island in Southern Leyte.
Last month, 200 participants signed a
declaration urging the continuation of
the debate on the exact site of the first
mass – Limasawa; Mazaua, between
Agusan del Sur and Surigao del Sur;
the island of Baug in Magallanes,
Agusan del Norte, or in other places?
Sr. Marie Rosanne Mallillin, SPC,
PhD, chancellor, St. Paul University
system in Surigao City, wrote friends
and colleagues that the Surigao
Declaration on the first Easter mass
was the result of the collective wisdom
of the participants in the symposium on
the “Flat World Notion versus Open
Mind: A Symposium on the Birth of
Christianity in the Philippines.”
The participants, she wrote, are
committed to “pursue the historic truth
regarding the topic on the birth of
Christianity in the Philippines based on
honesty, independent mindedness,
critical truth and truth only wherever
the search leads and whatever its
finding. … Truth for us is a matter of
conscience and ultimately the truth we
pursue with regard to the first Easter
mass in the Philippines in God’s truth,
and once we find this historic truth, it is
our solemn duty to proclaim it in the
public interest of the Filipino people.”
The symposium was held on June 21,
2018, at St. Paul University Surigao
Basic Education campus in Surigao
City.
The first Easter mass, Sr. Mallillin
reminds us, was held by the Portuguese
explorer and navigator Ferdinand
Magellan and crew members of his
“Armada deMolucca,” sponsored by
King Charles I of Spain, and officiated
by Spanish priest Fr. Pedro de
Valderrama on March 31, 1521 in
Mazzawa, thereby giving birth to
permanently influential Christianity in
the Philippines.
The controversy on the site of the first
mass has produced three versions. The
“Butuan” proponents maintain that
Antonio Pigafetta, official chronicler of
the Magellan voyage, simply named the
historic place as “Mazaua, Mazzaua,
Macangor, Mazaba” (depending on the
version of the manuscript), has a set of
descriptions that fit the topography of
Butuan in 1521 up to the present.
The latest claim is for the island of
Baug in the municipality of
Magallanes, Agusan del Norte (the
location of the 1872 Magellan
Memorial) which then was the Spanish
settlement of Butuan) as distinguished
from the native Butuan settlements)
during the Spanish period. This argues
that the place that Pigafetta referred to
as “the island where we were,” where
they finally anchored in the evening of
Thursday of March 28, 1521 Julian, the
hunting grounds and meeting place of
the two brothers, Raia Calambu and
Raisa Siaiu, is the site of the first Easter
Day mass.
The eminent Hawaii-based Filipino
anthropologist Dr. Eric Casino
concludes that Siaiu and Calambu were
Higaonon/Manobo chieftains rather
than Waray rulers.
In view of the approaching celebration
of 500 years of the Christianization of
the Philippines, Sr. Mallillin and the
Surigaonon Heritage Center (SHC)
under Dr. Fernando Almeda Jr., and in
cooperation with retired University of
the Philippines history professor Dr.
Leslie Bauzon, organized the
symposium in an attempt to establish
the historical truth, preceded by a two-
day field visit to Limasawa Island,
Baug Island, the island of barangay
Masao and other places – Suatan and
the Bood Promontory, all of which are
within Butuan City, to look at the sites
claimed to be where the first mass was
held.
The 200 symposium participants
consisting of selected historians,
academics, scholars, priests, nuns,
teachers and other avid students of
history who joined the field trips urged
that the “Limasawa Island vs. Masao-
Suatan-Bood vs. Baug Island” debate
should be reopened immediately
instead of being closed permanently.
According to the Surigao Declaration,
based on the ocular inspections made
and the papers presented at the
symposium there are numerous,
undeniable, compelling reasons for
believing that it is highly possible for
the first mass to have been celebrated
in locations rather than in Limasawa.
Among these are the long historical
tradition of over 400 years observed by
the people of Butuan, especially in the
present municipality of Magallanes,
Agusan del Norte; a commemorate
marker erected in the island of Buag,
Magallanes, in 1972 by Gov. Jose
Maria Carvallo of the district/province
of Surigao of which Butuan and
Agusan were then under its
jurisdiction; vast archeological artifacts
displayed in museums and in private
collections, consisting of porcelain,
ceramics and Chinaware in three areas
of Agusan del Norte; the abundance, up
to today, of gold “some as big as
chicken’s eggs) and mined in the
coastal towns of Malimono and its
barangay Masgad on the western coast
of Surigao del Norte, the presence of
Balanghai or Butuan boats in Butuan
remnants of which have been found in
the vicinity of Masao-Suatan; the
Pigafetta map showing Mazzaua as a
big island at the south of the islands of
Bohol and Leyte, with details showing
indication of the three settlements of
Butuan, Calaghan, and Mazzaua along
the same coastline, and at the same
time showing the approximate site of
the Easter Day mass.
Finally, the Declaration cites as a
compelling reason the admission later
by Dr. Gregorio Zaide, noted Filipino
historian, that he made a mistake in
choosing Limasawa. His mistake was
confirmed by his daughter Dr. Sonia
Zaide.
Dr. Rolando Borrinaga, a staunch
Limasawa proponent, also admitted
later that he made a mistake saying the
site should be in Barangay Triana
instead of Magallanes in Limasawa
where the shrine is located and the
cross planted on a promontory there.
In view of the foregoing facts, the
signers of the Surigao Declaration on
the First Easter Mass firmly resolve to
request the NHI/NHCP to reopen the
Limasawa vs. Butuan discourse and
revisit the whole historical narrative on
the matter.
The Declaration finishes with an
uncomely statement: “Only a fool does
not change his/her mind. Only a bigger
fool does not change his/her mind when
confronted with compelling and
convincing facts.”
* * * “Cocoy” Alegado. The whole town, it
I’m in Gingoog, my beloved hometown
in Misamis Oriental, for a long
vacation. In case you didn’t know,
Gingoog is pronounced He-ngo-og.
The city has become livelier, with
construction activities going on nearly
everywhere. I love the fresh air, love a
little unexpected rains, wonder where
many of the young people populating
the city are from. Front yards are
abloom with flowers, the streets are
clean, though some canals are not.
There is a flurry of eateries serving
home-cooked meals. The wonderment
increases with the festive celebration of
the birthday of city mayor, Marie de
Lara Guingona, with almost 100
percent of her administration’s top
executives filling the second floor of
the de Lara ancestral house to partake
of a very filling feast. The vice-mayor,
former Mayor Ruth de Lara, was on
hand to receive her daughter’s guests.
Our favorite city councilor, former
Mayor Mike Paderanga, welcomed us
with open arms.
This trip is a sad one, as we went to the
wake of a former schoolmate, Florie
Lambatan Alegado. Florie and Rita,
and another kabarkada, and myself
were the famous singing trio at
Gingoog Institute.
Condolences to Florie’s children,
Maryflor “Tata” Morales, Zilpah
“Daday” Vicente, Lalain Ruth “Lalyn”
Cezar, Juliet Joy “Joy” Yap, Shiela
Princesita “Sexy” Alegado, Veronica
“Bong” Alegado, and Frederick
seems, paid their respects to the well-
loved Florie.
Read more at
https://www.philstar.com/opinion/2018
/07/17/1834176/let-limasawa-debate-
roll#ScUqPj6sT0trLpj1.99
The first Catholic Mass in
the Philippines was held on March 31,
1521, Easter Sunday. It was said by
Father Pedro de Valderrama along the
shores of what was referred to in the
journals of Antonio Pigafetta as
"Mazaua".
Today, this site is widely believed by
many to be Limasawa at the tip
of Southern Leyte,[1] though this is
contested by some who assert that the
first mass was instead held at Masao,
Butuan.[2]
Landing on Philippine shores
When Ferdinand Magellan and his
European crew sailed from San Lucar
de Barrameda for an expedition to
search for spices, these explorers
landed on the Philippines after their
voyage from other proximate areas. On
March 28, 1521, while at sea, they saw
a bonfire which turned out to be Mazaua
(believed to be today's Limasawa)
where they anchored.[3]
Blood compact
The island's sovereign ruler was Rajah
Siaiu. When Magellan and comrades set
foot on the grounds of Mazaua, he
befriended the Rajah together with his
brother Rajah Kulambu of Butuan. In
those days, it was customary among the
indigenous—and in most of southeast
Asia—to seal friendship with a blood
compact. On instigation of Magellan
who had heard the Malayan term for it,
casi casi, the new friends performed the
ritual. This was the first recorded blood
compact
between Filipinos and Spaniards. Gifts
were exchanged by the two parties
when the celebration had ended.[4][5]
First mass
On March 31, 1521, an Easter Sunday,
Magellan ordered a mass to be
celebrated which was officiated by
Father Pedro Valderrama, the
Andalusion chaplain of the fleet, the only
priest then. Conducted near the shores
of the island, the Holy First Mass
marked the birth of Roman
Catholicism in the Philippines. Colambu
and Siaiu were the first natives of the
archipelago, which was not yet named
"Philippines" until the expedition of Ruy
Lopez de Villalobos in 1543, to attend
the mass among other native
inhabitants.[4][6]
Planting of the cross
In the afternoon of the same day,
Magellan instructed his comrades to
plant a large wooden cross on the top of
the hill overlooking the
sea.[7]Magellan's chronicler, Antonio
Pigafetta, who recorded the event said:
"After the cross was erected in
position, each of us repeated a
Pater Noster and an Ave Maria, and
adored the cross; and the kings
[Colambu and Siaiu] did the
same."[8]
Magellan then took ownership of the
islands where he had landed in the
name of King Charles V which he had
named earlier on March
16 Archipelago of Saint
Lazarus because it was the day of the
saint when the Armada reached the
archipelago.[4][6]
Proclamation of the national shrine
On June 19, 1960, Republic Act No.
2733, called the Limasawa Law, was
enacted without being signed by the
President of the Philippines. The
legislative fiat declared The site in
Magallanes, Limasawa Island in the
Province of Leyte, where the first Mass
in the Philippines was held is hereby
declared a national shrine to
commemorate the birth of Christianity in
the Philippines.[9] Magallanes is east of
the island of Limasawa. In 1984 Imelda
Marcos had a multi-million pesos Shrine
of the First Holy Mass built, an edifice
made of steel, bricks and polished
concrete, and erected on top of a hill
overlooking barangay Magallanes,
Limasawa. A super typhoon completely
wiped this out just a few months later.
Another shrine was inaugurated in
2005.[10]
Limasawa celebrates the historic and
religious coming of the Spaniards every
March 31 with a cultural presentation
and anniversary program dubbed as
Sinugdan, meaning "beginning.".[11] Yet
this has no reference at all to a Catholic
mass being held on March 31, 1521.
Historical controversies
Masao
Some Filipino historians have long
contested the idea that Limasawa was
the site of the first Catholic mass in the
country.[12] Historian Sonia Zaide
identified Masao (also Mazaua)
in Butuan as the location of the first
Christian mass.[7] The basis of Zaide's
claim is the diary of Antonio Pigafetta,
chronicler of Magellan's voyage. In 1995
then Congresswoman Ching Plaza of
Agusan del Norte-Butuan City filed a bill
in Congress contesting the Limasawa
hypothesis and asserting the "site of the
first mass" was Butuan.[13] The
Philippine Congress referred the matter
to the National Historical Institute for it to
study the issue and recommend a
historical finding. Then NHI chair Dr.
Samuel K. Tan reaffirmed Limasawa as
the site of the first mass.[14]
Bolinao
Odoric of Pordenone, an Italian and
Franciscan friar and missionary
explorer, is heartily believed by many
Pangasinenses to have celebrated the
first mass in Pangasinan in around 1324
that would have predated the mass held
in 1521 by Ferdinand Magellan. A
marker in front of Bolinao Church states
that the first Mass on Philippine soil was
celebrated in Bolinao Bay in 1324 by
a Franciscan missionary, Blessed
Odorico.
However, there is scholarly doubt that
Odoric was ever at the
Philippines.[15] Ultimately, the National
Historical Institute led by its
chair Ambeth Ocampo recognized the
historical records
of Limasawa in Southern Leyteas the
venue of the first Mass, held on March
31, 1521.[16][17]
Notes
1. Valencia, Linda B. "Limasawa: Site of
the First Mass". Philippines News
Agency. Ops.gov.ph. Archived from the
original on 2007-10-15. Retrieved 2007-
11-12.
2. "Limasawa first mass not a 'hoax' –
experts". CBCP News. June 8, 2014.
3. "A short Philippine History before the
1898 Revolution". Newsletter of the
District of Asia. Sspxasia.com. 2001.
Retrieved 2007-11-12.
4. Agoncillo, Teodoro A. (1974).
Introduction to Filipino History. Quezon
City, Philippines: GAROTECH
Publishing. ISBN 971-10-2409-8.
5. Mercado, Monina A. (Editor) (1985).
Dioramas:a visual history of the
Philippines. Metro Manila, Philippines:
Ayala Museum.
6. Agoncillo, Teodoro A. (1962 by Del
Carmen Juliana). Philippine History.
Manila, Philippines: Inang Wika
Publishing Co.
7. Halili 2004, pp. 73
8. Pigfetta, Antonio (2008) [c. 1525,
historical reproduction
republished c.1905]. Helen, Emma;
Robinson, James Alexander, eds. The
Philippine Islands 1493-1898.
BiblioBazaar, LLC. p. 129. ISBN 978-1-
4264-6706-6.ISBN 1-4264-6706-
0, ISBN 978-1-4264-6706-6
9. "REPUBLIC ACT NO. 2733 - AN ACT
TO DECLARE THE SITE IN
MAGALLANES, LIMASAWA ISLAND IN
THE PROVINCE OF LEYTE, WHERE
THE FIRST MASS IN THE
PHILIPPINES WAS HELD AS A
NATIONAL SHRINE, TO PROVIDE
FOR THE PRESERVATION OF
HISTORICAL MONUMENTS AND
LANDMARKS THEREAT, AND FOR
OTHER PURPOSES". Chanrobles Law
Library. June 19, 1960. Retrieved 2008-
12-13.
10. Borrinaga, Rolando O. (2007-04-
14). "The right place for disputed first
Mass in Limasawa". Inquirer Visayas.
Inquirer.net. Retrieved 2007-11-12.
11. "Southern Leyte Is Famous For..." Wow
Philippines. Tourism.gov.ph. Archived
from the original on 2008-02-12.
Retrieved 2007-11-15.
12. "Butuan to pursue claim it was site of
First Mass in RP, 485 years age". The
Philippine Star. April 2, 2006.
13. Ben Serrano (April 4, 2006). "Butuan
reclaims part as first mass venue".
sunstar.com.ph. Retrieved 2008-12-13.
14. Isagani Medina (1981). An Evaluation of
the Controversy on the First Mass in the
Philippines. Manila: National Historical
Institute. pp. 31–35. ISSN 0115-3927.
15. "[T]hat the name of Luzon [Dolrdiin],
which Mr. Romanet in his work Les
voyages en Asie au XIV siecle, took for
original in the work of Bl. Odoric de
Pordenone is due to the natives and not
to the foreigners; secondly, that for
Odoric the so-called islands of
Dondiin, comprise Ceylon, a part of
Sonda, probably Berneo and the
Island Hainan, but by no means the
Philippine Islands.” - Cited by Isacio R.
Rodriguez, “Bibliography on Legazpi
and Urdaneta,” Philippine Studies 13, n.
2 (1965), 296 - 297
16. Fuertes, Yolanda (17 Nov
2007). "Bolinao stakes claim to Mass
held in 1324". Inquirer.net. Northern
Luzon Bureau. Retrieved 23 Dec 2014.
17. "Was First Mass held in Limasawa or
Butuan? Church urged to help settle
controversy". interaksyon.com. April 3,
2012.
Bibliography
 Halili, M.C. (2004). Philippine History.
Rex Bookstore, Inc. pp. 72–
73. ISBN 978-971-23-3934-9.