Philippine History

Don Jayric V. Depalobos

Greatest contributions of the following:

1. Ferdinand Magellan – together with his troupe, he led the first expedition around the globe
proving that the earth was round.

2. Rudy Lopez de Villalobos - was a Spanish explorer who sailed the Pacific from Mexico to
establish a permanent foothold for Spain in the East Indies, which was near the Line of
Demarcation between Spain and Portugal according to the Treaty of Saragossa in 1529.
Villalobos gave the Philippines their name, after calling them Islas Filipinas in honor of his king
Philip II of Spain.

3. Miguel Lopez de Legazpi - also known as El Adelantado and El Viejo (The Elder), was a Spanish
conquistador who established one of the first European settlements in the East Indies and the
Pacific Islands in 1565. After obtaining peace with various indigenous tribes, López de Legazpi
made the Philippines the capital of the Spanish East Indies in 1571.

4. Lapu-Lapu - was the datu of Mactan, an island in the Visayas in the Philippines, who is known as
the first native of the archipelago to have resisted Spanish colonization. He is now regarded as
the first Filipino hero.

5. Father Pedro Chirino – was a Spanish historian who spent 12 years in the Philippines as a Jesuit
missionary at the beginning of the 17th century. He established a boarding school at Tigbauan in
1592, but the work he is most remembered for is his Relación de las Islas Filipinas (1604), a
record of life in 17th century Philippines which, Historian Ambeth Ocampo notes, is highly
regarded "by those reading early accounts of the Philippines, including Jose Rizal." Father
Chirino also recorded the transition of Filipino writing from the Baybayin script to the Latin
alphabet. He recorded an example of an exorcism by a Catholic friar of a Filipino woman who
had been bewitched and seized with trembling and paroxysms. Chirino wrote, "Our Brother was
sent to ascertain what this disturbance meant, and when he learned what had happened, he
called the husband and gave him a little piece of the "Agnus" in a reliquary, exhorting him at the
same time to have faith, and promising that his wife would soon be healed.…The husband went
home with the agnus, and no sooner had he applied it to his wife than she was freed of the
trembling and terror and remained calm. This occurrence soon became public, and another
Indian [the term "Indios" was used by the Spaniards to refer to the indigenous Austronesian
peoples of the Philippines] who had been bewitched by the same Indian woman, on seeing this
marvel, was convinced that God granted health to those who invoked him. Accordingly, he
asked for the same relic, and he also was healed."

6. Rajah Humabon – was the Rajah of Cebu at the time of Portuguese explorer, Ferdinand
Magellan's arrival in the Philippines in 1521. There are no official records of his existence before
the Spanish arrival, but extensive narration by Italian historian Antonio Pigafetta was made on
Humabon and the Philippine indigenous kingdoms, prior to the Spanish colonization. There are
no official records on the origins of Rajah Humabon prior to the arrival of Magellan. One of this
native kings were Sri Lumay, a native from Sumatra, who settled in the Visayas, and had several
sons. One of his sons was Sri Alho, who ruled a land known as Sialo which included the present-
 day towns of Carcar and Santander in the southern region of Cebu. Sri Ukob ruled a kingdom
known as Nahalin in the north which included the present-day towns of Consolación, Liloan,
Compostela, Danao, Carmen and Bantayan. He died in battle, fighting with the tribal group
known as magalos from Mindanao.

7. Father Pedro e Valderama - Fr. Pedro de Valderrama, a friar-missionary who accompanied the
Magellan expedition, planted the seeds of Christianity in the country.

8. Martin de Goiti - was a Spanish Basque conquistador and founder of the city of Manila in the
Philippines. Martin de Goiti was one of the soldiers who accompanied the Spanish colonization
of the East Indies and the Pacific, in 1565. He was the leader of the expedition to Manila,
ordered by Miguel López de Legazpi in 1569. There, he fought a number of battles against the
Muslim chieftain, Rajah Sulaiman III of Manila for control of lands and settlements.

9. Narciso Claveria y Zaldua - became governor general of the Philippines on July 16,1844 until
December 26, 1849. In 1844, he corrected the Philippine calendar, made reform in the office of
the alcalde-mayor and founded a casino, the "Sociedad de Recreo" (in English: "Recreation
Association"). His proposal of a military library was approved and the first steam war-vessels
were bought from London. These led to the conquest of island of Balanguingui in Sulu
Archipelago against the Moros. He earned the titles of count of Manila and viscount of Claveria
and the cross of San Fernando. His term was known for adapting Spanish surnames among the
natives on November 11, 1849. A number of papers founded within his term, among of them
were La Esperanza and Diario de Manila.He personally asked for his retirement to the King, and
later returned to Spain.

10. Diego Cera - a priest under the Augustinian Recollects. A native of Spain, he served as parish
priest in Las Piñas from 1795 to 1830. Historians portray him as a gifted man, a natural scientist,
chemist, architect, community leader, as well as organist and organ builder. Fr. Cera began work
on the organ in 1816, while the church was still under construction. The church was completed
in 1819 and the organ, in 1821, but without the trumpet stops. The organ was finally completed
in 1824 after Fr. Cera decided to use metal for the trumpets whose character he cannot
reproduce with bamboo.