SOCSCI 031 (TTH 10:30-12:00)

Rovie Anthony S. Napa BSCE- 1 September 10, 2019

Opposition (Limasawa)

These are the following arguments that support the opposition; My first argument is that on June
19, 1960, the Philippine Congress enacted a bill which states that: 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, this law was enacted without executive
approval, President Carlos P. Garcia did not sign the law because he was not sure of the fact that
the 'Mazaua' in the Pigafetta Codex is really Limasawa. It was the American historian Emma Helen
Blair and John Alexander Robertson who claimed in 1909 that the island of Mazaua is the present
island of Limasawa without giving any explanation for the identification. In 1800, Carlo Amoretti,
a conservator at the Ambrosiana library in Milan, published his transcription of a newly discovered
authentic manuscript of Antonio Pigafetta. In his edition of what is now popularly called the
Ambrosiana codex, Amoretti equated Mazaua; which he called "Messana" and/or "Massana," the
name popularized by Maximilianus Transylvanus; with Combés's Limasawa. In 1905, Philippines
scholar James A. Robertson translated Pigafetta's manuscript for the Philippine Islands, 1493-
1898, a 55-volume collection of Spanish documents on Philippine history translated into English
and edited by himself and Emma Helen Blair. In the translation, based on the Italian transcription
by Andrea da Mosto which finally established the text of the Italian manuscript, Robertson asserted
in footnote No. 26 in volume 33 that "Mazaua" was "now called the island of Limasawa"." In
actuality, Robertson was paraphrasing the dictum of Carlo Amoretti,except that he used the correct
name, "Mazaua" and not "Messana" or "Massana" which Amoretti used interchangeably.
Therefore, the law is not a substantial evidence to claim that Limasawa is the site of the first mass
since it was enacted without being signed by the President of the Philippines and without any
scientific evidence of Emma Helen Blair and John Alexander Robertson claim.

My other argument is about the Ambrosiana codex which is the first transcription of the discoverer
of the manuscript of Antonio Pigafetta, which was done by the Augustinian Encyclopedist Carlo
Amoretti, in 1800. Limasawa, the isle believed to be Mazaua has a different circumference based
on the transcription.
My argument is that Limasawa could not be Mazaua since the circumference are both widely
different from each other. Based on the research paper of de Jesús, the Limasawa hypothesis asserts
the Leyte isle is the equal of Magellan’s port, Mazaua. That is, they are identical: perfect, exact,
total equal of one another. In terms of size Limasawa’s 698 hectares ill fit Mazaua’s area of 2213
to 3930 hectares converted from Ginés de Mafra’s estimate of its 3-4 leguas circumference.
Also, about the notion Limasawa is Mazaua, was bootlegged into history by Carlo Amoretti. His
idea is self-contradictory: Limasawa—which unknown to him embodies rejection of the historical
fact and reality of an Easter mass—is the perfect, exact, total equal of Mazaua where the first mass
was indeed held. Philippine historiographers who uncritically accepted Amoretti’s guess, though
it was unsupported by solid proof and reasoned argument, have unknowingly edified the very
antithesis of the “first mass” notion. Therefore, Limasawa could not be Mazaua since the
circumference are both widely different from each other and the transcriptions of Carlo Amoretti
are only “bootlegged” by historiographer.
References:

 Rosario M. Cortes, C. P. Boncan, Ricardo T. J., "The Filipino Saga: History as Social
Change"New Day Publishers, 2000. p. 489.
 Maria Christine N. Halili, "Philippine History" Rex Book Store, 2014. p. 73.
 Dirk Barreveld "CEBU - A Tropical Paradise in the Pacific" Lulu Press, Inc, 2014.
 Vicente C. de Jesús, Mazaua: Magellanùs Lost Harbor, 2007