j.e.masagca
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RIZAL BEACH at low tide - one of the many beach resorts lining the coast of Gubat to Bulusan towns on the eastern coast of the Province of Sorsogon.
Here, no matter how many bathers there are one can still find a beach spot all for himself.
But I was thinking what if 500 years ago Ferdinand Magellan dropped anchor here rather than in Homonhon or in the VisMin section of the archipelago?
Guam, from where Magellan took off to continue his journey on March 1521, is at 13.4443 Degrees North. Homonhon is at 10.7301 Degrees North, Gubat, Sorsogon is at 12.9202 Degrees North, Virac at 13.5849 Degrees North, and Legazpi City is 13.1391 Degrees North.
My crazy notion is that if Magellan’s navigator has taken a straight westerly course from Guam, given some deviations due to the prevailing wind and ocean currents, then the expedition could have landed in the Bicol Peninsula.
Maybe it was the Amihan (Northeast Monsoon) that is prevalent in the first months of the year that caused the drift 3 degrees in latitude towards the south, give or take some minutes and seconds.
In all probability, if it were so, the Spanish expedition it could have landed in Catanduanes, not only as the island is almost of the same latitude as Guam but its geographical location is further out to the Pacific Ocean than any part of Luzon.
Just a wild imagination but how the change could have altered the pattern of Western cultural influence in what later would become Las Islas Filipinas.
Who knows, Magellan could have made it home to Spain as Bicolanos are gentle and more tolerant people, without being cowards or subservient. The endless debate as to the site of the first mass in the archipelago could have been avoided.
Anyway, even if Magellan drifted further south of Luzon, Sorsogon Province is credited to be the site of the first Catholic Mass in the island of Luzon, and other maritime roles during the Spanish regime.
From Magayagayang Magallanes, November 27, 2017, in magallanessorsogon.gov.ph:
“Coming from Cebu, Fray Jimenez together with Fray Juan de Alva went to Oton, Panay to meet Legaspi who was there at that time. Then Fray Alonso Jimenez and Spanish Captain Luiz Enriquez de Guzman were sent to explore, pacify and evangelize Southern Luzon.
‘Sailing northeasterly coming from Oton, Panay with brief stopovers to evangelize Leyte, Samar, Masbate, and Burias Island, and across Ticao Pass to Sorsogon Province, the missionary group of Fray Alonso Jimenez reached Ginangra (a barangay of the present-day town of Magallanes) and landed finally at the ancient fishing village of “Hibal-ong” which was later called Ibalon (Gibalon).
‘The landfall of the De-Guzman-Jimenez expedition was on the shore of Ibalon (“Hibal-ong”) now known as sitio San Isidro (in Barangay Salvacion), which is situated at the mouth of a big river, located at the western coast of Sorsogon Province in what is now the Ginangra River. Near the mouth of the said river, they must have cast anchor not too far from the seashore and went ashore to Ibalon.
‘On the shore of Ibalon, the present-day sitio of San Isidro at the mouth (“bocana”) of said Ginangra River, Captain de Guzman, and Fray Alonso Jimenez built a small chapel made of bamboo and nipa. There, Fray Jimenez held the first mass in Luzon in 1569. The natives were baptized, thus making Ibalon (now sitio San Isidro) the first Christian settlement in Luzon.
‘The holding of the first mass in Ibalon (Gibalon) in Luzon in 1569 is evidenced by the records of the San Agustin Museum in Cebu and Manila which stated that he (Fray Jimenez) went to Ibalon in the province of Camarines (the name of the Bicol Region at that time) where he resided for some time, baptized a lot of indios and principales and built a small chapel. The said records were written in Spanish, a portion of which reads as follows: “xxx aqui paso a Ibalon, de la provincia de Camarines, donde residio algun tiempo, bautizo a muchos indios y principales, levanto una pequeña iglesias xxx”.
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