Rewriting history

For more than 70 years, all of us believed that Pluto was a planet. That was until last year, when scientists proved that it wasn't. That is the example that usually comes to mind when I think of Limasawa island. We all know the significance of Limasawa. History tells us that this is the place where the first Catholic mass was held in the Philippines. Or is it?

One advantage of living in a University Town, as we call Dumaguete, is that we get to meet several dynamic persons whose work will have a great impact on the world. One such man, whom I had the chance of meeting again yesterday, is Gabby Atega.

Gabby, who manages the Midtown Printing Press in Davao City, is an amateur historian. But he has unearthed a wealth of knowledge in his research that would put the works of some historians to shame.

Gabby's main preoccupation with his research into history is in his thesis that Magellan never saw Limasawa. As you well know, there is an ongoing debate as to where the site of the first Philippine mass was held. There is a group of historians which argue that it was Limasawa. The position of this group was upheld by the Gancayco Commission, which was commissioned by the National Historical Institute to come up with a definite answer to this question.

On the other hand, there is a group which argues that the site is in Butuan. They say that all the flora and fauna that was mentioned by Pigafetta in his work were found in Masao in Butuan and not in Limasawa.

Gabby notes that many of these opinions which were the basis of the Gancayco Commission's finding were not backed by empirical evidence.

He notes several observations made by Pigafetta which would prove that the first mass was held not in Limasawa. Neither was it held in Masao in Butuan, to the consternation of his kababayans. Gabby confirms what the Spaniards had been saying long before the Americans came--the site of the first Philippine mass was in Magallanes in Surigao.

Pigafetta, however, did not mention the name of that place where the mass was held. He simply called it, "the island where we were."

For starters, the Spanish District Governor Carvallo, in 1872, put a marker in Magallanes as a testament to the first Philippine mass. (And why would they name that place Magallanes, anyway, if not for Magellan's historic visit to that place?) A much earlier document, the Anales Ecclesiasticus, written by the Spaniards, said the first mass was in Butuan. Gabby explained that there were actually three places which were referred to as Butuan at that time, and that today's Butuan is not the Butuan that existed in 1521.

But Gabby notes that Pigafetta was an excellent cartographer.

All his data, where he described the longitude and latitude of the places they visited, were accurate to the minute. Working backwards, he established that the longitudinal reference between Quippit, Zamboanga del Norte, and Cebu, is the same measurement between Cebu and Mazzawa. When placed on a map, all the coordinates of that first Philippine mass points to Magallanes.

How did this Limasawa thing come about? Gabby points to a certain James Alexander Robertson, an American historian who simply changed the site from Magallanes to Limasawa without presenting any proof.

Gabby said Robertson did not really research much on this subject. He only even passed by Limasawa and made his conclusion.

Gabby can talk to you for hours about this part of history. But he is actually preparing to speak before the National Historical Institute, in a bid to correct a very important part of history which has long been denied us.

The real beneficiary of his cause, after all, is not Gabby himself, but the entire Filipino nation. Good luck on your quest, Gabby. Let's go on to rewrite our history from our own perspective.*

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