 Local executives and Church officials as well as historians here said they have

new scientific evidence to substantiate the re-filing of a petition before the

National Historical Institute (NHI) asserting that Butuan City — particularly
Mazzaua Island, now Barangay Pinamangculan — was the official site of
the first Mass on Easter Sunday in 1521. 
 Among the pieces of evidence are 10 1,600-year-old Balahanghai boats
believed to have been used for trade and to transport people for worship
services. 
 "We waited for more scientific evidences to strongly substantiate the Mazzaua
claim until geomorphologists and archeologists came up with official reports
that indeed Mazzaua Island was the site of the first Mass," Fr. Joesilo Amalia,
trustee of the Butuan City Cultural and Historical Foundation Inc. and curator
of the Butuan Diocese Museum told The STAR
Read more at
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2006/04/02/329389/butuan-pursue-
claim-it-was-site-first-mass-rp-485-years-ago#SwdEv3XP07BE6ViE.99
 A law was passed by Congress on June 19, l960, or Republic Act No. 2733,
declared the site of Magallanes on Limasawa Island as the national shrine to
commemorate the first Mass ever held in the country that gave birth to
Christianity in this now predominantly Catholic nation. 
Read more at
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2006/04/02/329389/butuan-pursue-
claim-it-was-site-first-mass-rp-485-years-ago#SwdEv3XP07BE6ViE.99
 But the Butuan City Cultural and Historical Foundation Inc., (BCHFI) with the
backing of the Butuan City government in the early 1980s up to the ’90s,
contested the declaration. This prompted the government in 1994 to form the
Gancayco Commission headed by then Supreme Court Associate Justice Emilio
Gancayco. 
Read more at
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2006/04/02/329389/butuan-pursue-
claim-it-was-site-first-mass-rp-485-years-ago#SwdEv3XP07BE6ViE.99
 According to BCHFI, it has gathered 28 new pieces of scientific evidence and
comparisons between the two islands — Mazzaua and Limasawa — to
substantiate Butuan’s claim, including the recovery of 10 Balahanghai boats
 which were accidentally dug up near Masao River in 1976. A shrine was built
for the ancient boats which were used by natives in Butuan for sea travel even
before the Spaniards came. 
Read more at
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2006/04/02/329389/butuan-pursue-
claim-it-was-site-first-mass-rp-485-years-ago#SwdEv3XP07BE6ViE.99
 The Philippine government has endorsed the Balanghai Shrine to the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as a
"World Historical and Cultural Heritage Site" because of its contribution to
ancient culture and history. 
Read more at
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2006/04/02/329389/butuan-pursue-
claim-it-was-site-first-mass-rp-485-years-ago#SwdEv3XP07BE6ViE.99

 Accounts said that on March 31, 1521, Easter Sunday, Friar Pedro Valderrama celebrated mass
together with Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan and his men. With the Spaniards were the
ruler of Mazaua Rajah Siaiu and his brother Rajah Colambu, the ruler of Butuan. Afterwards they
planted a cross on the highest hill and stayed in the area for seven days and helped in the rice
harvest for two days together with more than a hundred of the Rajah’s men.

 “When they arrived on Good Friday, they were harvesting rice for two days, that means to say,
the place where they went was the Mazaua, not in Limasawa but somewhere in Mindanao.
Because they harvested for two days, what can you harvest in Limasawa when there was nothing
[there]?” said Father Joesilo Amalla, curator of Butuan Diocesan Liturgical Museum.

 local historian and president of the Butuan City Heritage Society Greg Hontiveros said they are
confident their new data and evidences can now convince critics and skeptics.

 More than a hundred of people helped in the harvest, meaning it was a huge agricultural area. I’ve
been to Limasawa a lot of times. They have said that the rice harvested came from the
surrounding island, and they said they have harvested in the island itself. So their claim is
wrong,” Amalla added.

 He pointed out that one important evidence is the Yale Codex, which according to Magellan
scholars, is more impressive than the Ambrosiana Codex used in the past to justify both claims.
 http://www.mindanews.com/top-stories/2012/04/butuan-historians-ask-
cbcp-to-resolve-first-mass-controversy-in-citys-favor/

 Actually, the National Historical Institute (NHI) has already reached a conclusion after a
two-year study. In 1996, it reaffirmed the popular belief propelled by Republic Act 2733
that the first Holy Mass was celebrated in Limasawa Island on March 31, 1521.The NHI
cited the memoirs of Antonio Pigafetta, who chronicled the expedition of Ferdinand
Magellan, as “the only credible primary source that yields the best evidence of the
celebration of the first Christian Mass on Philippine soil.” This issue, however, remains
debatable despite the pronouncement from the NHI.

 Tomas “Buddy” Gomez 3rd, a one-time press secretary of President Cory, disagreed with
the NHI on naming Limasawa as the true venue and called for the correction of this
“long-standing historical error.” No, he doesn’t contest that Pigafetta had indeed written
that a Mass was held in Limasawa on that Easter Sunday, March 31, 1521,
“There us, however, on inescapable and irrefutable fact: “Pigafetta NEVER said that the
Easter Mass in Limasawa was the ‘first.’ Neither did any of the survivors of Magellan’s
expedition,” Buddy added in a post to his Facebook friends, including this columnist.
 https://www.manilatimes.net/first-mass-philippines-held/157730/

 The evidence for Masao, rather than Limasawa, are as follows:

 1. The name of the place. In all the primary sources, including the diary of Antonio Pigaffeta, the
chronicler of Magellan’s voyage, the name of the place was three syllables – “Masao” or something
close to it. Limasawa has four syllables and begins with another letter.

 2. The route from Homonhon. According to the primary records, again, the expedition travelled 20 to
25 leagues from Homonhon, their first landing point, to the site of the first mass, taking a west
southwest course. If they had been at Limasawa Island, the distance is only about 14.6 leagues, or
one half of that length. Moreover, the island of Limasawa is blocked from Homonhon by the tip of
Southern Leyte.

 3. The latitude position. Some of the primary sources locate the place at 90 North latitude, and others
at 9 2/3 degrees. The latitude position eliminates Limasawa, because it is closer by ten degrees, and
strengthens the claim of Masao, Butuan because it is exactly at nine degrees.

 4. The route to Cebu. The route to Cebu taken by the explorers is almost exactly similar to the one
now taken by motor vessels from Cebu to Butuan. The King of Masao (Kolambu) even guided the
explorers to Cebu and acted as their interpreter and intermediary when they met the Cebu king. On
the contrary, there is no sea traffic from Limasawa to Cebu, then or now. And the distance to Cebu,
according to Pigaffeta, was 35 leagues (140 miles). If it were Limasawa that they came, the distance
would only be 80 miles, or only half of the alleged distance travelled.

 5. The geographical features. The following physical features of the first kingdom point to Butuan,
rather than Limasawa, as follows:
a. The bonfire: the explorers where attracted to the light present the night before they came to shore.
Now, the name “Masao”, in Butuanon precisely means “bright”, which could refer to the local custom of
celebrating a harvest by cooking rice flakes in open fires. By contrast, there are no ricefields in
Limasawa.
b. The balanghai: which was a prominent feature of the story of their stay in the first kingdom. It was
said that the king came to their ship in a “balanghai”, and Pigaffeta and his companion attended a
party in a ritual “balanghai”, with the local king. Butuan is now the site of at least nine excavated
 “balanghai” relics; by contrast, Limasawa has no significant archaeological relics or “balanghai”
tradition.
c. Abundance of gold: the Western explorers got excited at the abundance of gold in Masao and
Butuan, for that was the main currency at that time. Both archaeological relics (e.g. the “Gold Image of
Agusan”) and gold mines today attested to the abundance of gold in the Agusan valley. However,
there is no gold in Limasawa.
