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THE FINAL REPORT OF THE MOJARES PANEL

ON THE BUTUAN-LIMASAWA CONTROVERSY

ON THE LOCATION OF THE 1521 FIRST EASTER SUNDAY

MASS IN THE PHILIPPINES

CONTENTS

PART I Page Introduction 3 I. The Mojares Panel 5 II. Historical Background of the Controversy 6 a) The Butuan Tradition 7 b) The Limasawa Tradition 10 III. Government Action 11 a) The Butuan Forum Group Discussion 12 b) The Cebu Meeting 13 c) The Hontiveros Article 14 d) The Tacloban Meeting 14 e) The Manila Meeting 16 PART II - LIMITS AND METHODS I. Parameters of the Current Review 17 II. Sources Used 18 III. Site Inspections 20 IV. Navigational Information 21 V. On Other Evidence 22 PART III – ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS A. On the Butuan Presentation 22 a.1 The Malvar Presentation 23 a.2 The Atega and Hontiveros Article 23 a.3.On the Accuracy of the Pigafetta Codices and Translations 23 a.4 On Longitude 45 B. Determining Limasawa 52 b.1 Similarities of the Coordinates 54 b.2 Retracing the Magellan Voyage 57 C. Regarding Other Evidences 64 c.1. Location 64 c.2. Other Issues 68 D. On the Limasawa Presentation 70 PART IV – CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

A. Introduction On May 8, 2018, President Rodrigo Duterte signed Executive Order 55^1 that began the preparations for the coming 500 th^ year anniversary (Quincentennial) of the Christianization of the Philippines. The celebration was to start in 2019 and end in 2022. The Executive Order included, among its provisions, the following: WHEREAS, various entities have been proposing to the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) the conduct of certain activities for the commemoration of the 500th^ anniversary of the arrival of Ferdinand Magellan in the Philippines, the celebration of the First Mass in the Philippines (italics supplied), the circumnavigation of the globe by Ferdinand Magellan-Juan Sebastian Elcano for 1519 to 1522, the victory of Lapu-Lapu in the Battle of Mactan, and the events associated, thereto;^2 It is in this context that the National Quincentennial Committee (NQC) through its Executive Director, NHCP Chair Dr. Rene R. Escalante, reopened the case of a (^1) Executive Order No. 55 “Constituting A Steering Committee for The Commemoration of The Quincentennnial of The Arrival of Ferdinand Magellan in The Philippines, The Victory of Lapu-Lapu in The Battle of Mactan, and other Historic Events that Happened from 1519 to 1522” signed May 8, 2018. Amended by Executive Order No. 103, s. 20 19. (^2) Executive Order 55, 2.

controversy in Philippine history---the location of the site of the First Easter Sunday Mass in the Philippines.^3 This long-standing issue of the exact location of the Easter Sunday Mass that Fr. Pedro Valderama, chaplain of the expedition, celebrated on 31 March 1521 was discussed and resolved by the National Historical Institute (forerunner of the NHCP) through various fora before a panel of experts in 1980, 1995, and 2008.^4 All of these panels concluded that the site of the mass was on Limasawa Island in Southern Leyte. However, some groups (mostly proponents of the Butuan theory) claimed that they were not given ample time to present their position papers before the three panels. Others (both the Butuan and Limasawa proponents) have also indicated that since the last time this issue was discussed, new documents and interpretations have surfaced and need to be included in the narrative of the controversy. (^3) Instead of calling the event “First Mass,” the NQC has adopted the use of the term “Easter Sunday Mass” (31 March 1521) to differentiate it from the mass in Bolinao, Pangasinan allegedly celebrated by the Italian-Franciscan friar Odoric of Pordenone sometime in 1324. More so, it will also eliminate the undocumented masses that Fr. Valderama probably celebrated when they were at sea in the area of Samar. The NQC finds the Easter Day Mass more historically significant because it was documented by Pigafetta, happened on Philippine soil and local residents participated in the event. (^4) These committees are: the Live-In Workshop on the Site of the First Mass of the Philippines (February 22-25, 1980); the Gancayco Committee headed by former Supreme Court Justice Emilio Gancayco (1995); and the Legarda Committee headed by historian and writer Dr. Benito J. Legarda (2008) (See Appendix 1 for a complete list of the previous panel members and workshop participants on the First Easter Mass controversy)

Members Dr. Danilo M. Gerona Panel’s Historian Acting Director, Partido Studies Center Partido State University, Goa, Camarines Sur Dr. Francis M. Navarro Panel’s Historian-Paleographer Assistant Professor, Ateneo de Manila University Dr. Carlos Madrid Álvarez-Piñer Panel’s Historian Spanish Pacific Historian Director of Research of the Micronesia Area Research Center Fr. Antonio Francisco B. De Castro, S.J. Panel’s CBCP Representative Guest Professor, Ateneo de Manila University Dr. Jose Victor Z. Torres Panel’s Secretary General Panel’s Historian and FGD Moderator Full Professor, De La Salle University-Manila The selection of the panelists was carefully done to make sure that all disciplines and expertise are represented. None of the panel members came from Butuan, Leyte or Samar, so they can decide based on the merits of the position papers and not on regional or territorial interests. The NQC also invited the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) to monitor and participate actively in this exercise because the event under consideration is identified with the Roman Catholic Church. II. Historical Background of the Controversy The controversy of the site of the First Easter Sunday Mass in the Philippines in 1521 began in the last years of the 19th^ century and the early decades of the 20 th^ century when historical research by scholars of that period – both foreign and local – shifted from

the traditionally recognized site of Butuan in Agusan del Norte to Limasawa Island in Leyte. The following is a short history of this controversy. a) The Butuan Tradition In 1872, a monument commemorating the First Mass in the Philippines was erected near the mouth of the Agusan River in what is today the municipality of Magallanes. As Jesuit historian, Miguel Bernad, SJ wrote: … that monument is a testimonial to the tradition that remained vigorous until the end of the 19th^ century, mainly that Magellan and his expedition landed at Butuan and celebrated there the first Mass ever offered in the Philippines.^6 The Butuan tradition can be traced to the 1 7 th^ century when the earliest mention of the location of the First Easter Sunday Mass in Butuan was made in two missionary chronicles: Francisco Colin, S.J.’s Labor evangelica (1663) and Francisco Combes, S.J.’s Historia de Mindanao y Jolo (1667). These two works, Bernad pointed out, “exercise a strong influence over subsequent writers” so that, by the 19th^ century, The Butuan tradition was taken for granted, and we find it mentioned in writer after writer, each copying from the previous and, being in turn, copied by those who came after.^7 (^6) Miguel A. Bernad, S.J. “Butuan or Limasawa? The Site of the First Mass in the Philippines: A Reexamination of the Evidence” in Tradition and Discontinuity. Essays on Philippine History and Culture (Manila: NBS, 1982), 124. (^7) Bernad, 127.

Expedition for almost a century. Translations were later made from this transcription. The popular English translation was by Lord Stanley of Alderley entitled The First Voyage Round the World by Magellan (1874) under the auspices of The Hakluyt Society.^11 Robertson later said that the Amoretti transcription was in a “wofully (sic) mutilated form, as Amoretti has edited the manuscript almost beyond recognition in some places, with the result that Pigafetta’s words are twisted into new meanings.”^12 The controversy over the site began in 189 4 after the publication of a new edition of the Ambrosiana manuscript transcribed by Italian archivist Andrea Da Mosto entitled Il primo viaggio intorno al globo di Antonio Pigafetta E Le Sue Regole Sull'arte Del Navigare. (1894).^13 But this time, it was a full transcription that included parts that were missing or edited out by Amoretti.^14 It was in this year that new questions arose on the site of the First Easter Sunday Mass site. b) The Limasawa Tradition (^11) Lord Stanley of Alderley. The First Voyage Round the World by Magellan. (London: The Hakluyt Society, 1874). (^12) James A. Robertson. Magellan’s Voyage Around the World by Antonio Pigafetta. (Cleveland: Arthur H. Clark, 1906), 13-14. (^13) Andrea Da Mosto. Il primo viaggio intorno al globo di Antonio Pigafetta E le sue regole sull'arte del navigare. (Roma: Auspice Il Ministero Della Pubblica Istruzione, 1894) (^14) As would be later shown in this report, Carlo Amoretti had, in fact, already noted that the First Easter Mass was on Limasawa Island. However, because of the unreliability of his transcription, this fact became lost to historical scholars.

The shift to the Limasawa tradition happened following the publication of the Da Mosto transcription and the examination of the log of Victoria ’s pilot, Francisco Albo. The log appeared for the first time in the collection of documents published by Martin Fernandez de Navarette in 1837^15. Upon study of these two sources, two Philippine scholars---Trinidad Pardo de Tavera and Fr. Pablo Pastells, SJ---concluded that it was a historical error that Butuan was deemed the site of the First Easter Sunday Mass. A reading of the Da Mosto work showed a telling footnote that stated his conclusion following a study of the Albo logbook, the Transylvanus work^16 and another published roteiro (rutter) of one of the expedition’s crewmembers who became known in historical circles as “the unidentified Genoese pilot”: (3) Il Roteiro (loc. cit. p. 278, r. 4) la chiama «Macangor » e le dà la latitudine di 9°. Aggiunge che dista venti leghe dall'isola Hummunù. Albo (loc. cit. IV, 22o) la mette a 9° 4o di latitudine nord e la chiama « Mazava ». Il Transylvano (loc. cit. IV, 268) dice che vi approdarono, spinti da un fortunale, che aveva loro impedito d'approdare a Selana, e le dà il nome di «Masana ». Quest'isola corrisponde molto probabilmente all'odierna Limasana.^17 (^15) Diario ó derrotero del viage de Magallanes desde el cajbo de San Agustín en, el Brasil, hasta el regreso a España de la nao Victoria, escrito por Francisco Albo ” in Martin Fernandez de Navarette, Colección de los Viages y Descubrimientos Que Hicieron Por Mar Los Españoles Desde Fines Del Siglo XV. Tomo IV (Madrid: La Imprenta Nacional, 1837), 209 - 248. (^16) Maximilianus Transylvanus. De Molucci Insulis (1523) (^17) Da Mosto, footnote 3. 74.

In 2018, with the continued clamor by Butuan proponents to present their position papers and the decision by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) to settle the controversy before the Quincentennial Celebration of the Christianization of the Philippines, plans were laid out by the National Quincentennial Committee (NQC) and the NHCP that led to the creation of what came to be called the “Mojares Panel” in order to review anew the issue of the location of the site of the First Easter Sunday Mass in the Philippines. The following activities were done by the NHCP and the Mojares Panel following this decision: a) The Butuan Focus Group Discussion (FGD) A focus group discussion (FGD) was done solely for the Butuan proponents of the First Easter Mass. As mentioned in the Guidelines for the Paper Presentors, the objective of the FGD was to “collate position papers which present the same or similar arguments and cite the same sources, reducing the number of position papers to be considered by the panel of experts to at most three.” In the last week of September 2018, the NHCP issued a Call for Papers for the proponents of the Butuan claim. Two Butuan proponents responded---Gabriel Atega and Dr. Potenciano Malvar---and they provided their papers before the submission deadline. The FGD was held on November 9, 2018 at the Balanghai Hotel and Convention Center in Butuan City, Agusan del Norte. Facilitating the discussion were NHCP personnel led by Ms. Cielito Reyno (Supervising History Researcher) and Mr. Ian Alfonso (NHCP Senior History Researcher and NQC Secretariat Head). Also in attendance were Department of Budget and

Management (DBM) Usec. Agnes Joyce Bailen (representing the NQC) and Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) Secretary-General Fr. Marvin Mejia. Other local historians and observers also participated in the discussion. The two papers presented were:

1. “First Easter Day Sunday Mass Celebration at the Island of Baug, Magallanes, Agusan del Norte (Spanish Period Butuan)” by Gabriel Atega
2. “Pigafetta’s 9°2/3N, ‘Hidden Facts’” by Dr. Potenciano Malvar Two one-hour open fora were held after each presentation during which the evidence presented by the two proponents was clarified and commented on. It was during the second open forum that Atega and Malvar agreed to thresh out the differences in their papers and consolidate their data into one paper to be presented to the NQC. The paper was to be prepared with the help of historian and De La Salle University professor Michael Charleston “Xiao” Chua.^20 b) The Cebu Meeting The Cebu forum was the first meeting of the Mojares Panel. This was held at the Harolds Hotel, Gorordo Street, Cebu City on 12 - 13 December 201 8. During this two-day meeting, the Mojares Panel evaluated the previous reports of the NHI Workshop on the First Mass (1980), the Gancayco Panel (1995), and Legarda Panel (2008). Also, with the formal convening of the panel, Gabriel Atega and Dr. (^20) Unfortunately, in the course of efforts to consolidate the two papers, disagreements arose on the facts to be presented to the NQC. With permission from Dr. Malvar, Mr. Chua decided to submit the two reports separately, along with a summary of their differences and similarities.

Panel member Dr. Danilo Gerona was unable to join the meeting because he had to attend to official matters in his institution. The representatives of the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) were: Bishop Nereo Odchimar Fr. Amado Tumbali, SJ Fr. Ted Torralba Members of the NQC Secretariat from NHCP were also present. The panel met in Leyte to listen to the presentation of Limasawa proponent Dr. Rolando Borrinaga entitled “Limasawa was Phonetically Called Masawa until 1602 and the Western Mazaua Site of the Easter Sunday Mass in 1521 ”. In his paper, Borrinaga not only reiterated that Limasawa Island was the place of the first Easter Sunday Mass; he also proposed that another site, Barangay Triana, on the western side of the island, be recognized as the place where the First Easter Sunday Mass was celebrated, and not Barangay Magallanes on the eastern side where the existing shrine of the First Mass is located. He also identified a nearby hill named Saub Point overlooking Saub Bay as the place where a cross was planted by Magellan’s men and Pigafetta reportedly saw the “three islands” which may be part of Camiguin, Bohol, and Surigao. The panel then proceeded to prepare for the evaluation of both papers of the Butuan and Limasawa proponents and the drafting of an initial report of the findings. The panel agreed to meet for the final evaluation on July 23 in Manila. On April 26, members of the panel went to Limasawa Island to conduct an ocular inspection of the First Easter Mass site in Barangay Magallanes. They then proceeded

to Barangay Triana where they visited the site proposed by Borrinaga and climbed Saub Point to the area that was theorized to be the point where the cross may have been erected. It is worth noting that both sites in Limasawa actually had a view of the three islands reportedly seen by Pigafetta. e) The Manila Meeting The Mojares Panel met on July 23 and 24 , 2019 at the National Quincentennial Committee office at the NHCP building along T.M. Kalaw St. in Manila. Present at the meeting were: Dr. Resil Mojares (Chair) Dr. Francis Navarro (Member) Dr. Carlos Madrid (Member) Fr. Tony de Castro (Member) Dr. Danilo Gerona (Member) Dr. Jose Victor Torres (Secretary General) Representatives of the CBCP at the meeting were: Fr. Emil Quilatan, OAR Fr. Ted Torralba Fr. Amado Tumbali, SJ Fr. Antolin Uy, SVD Fr. Albert Flores Also present were representatives of the NHCP and the NQC Dr. Rene Escalante, NHCP Chair and NQC Executive Director Alvin Alcid, Chief, RPHD Cielito Reyno Ian Christopher Alfonso – Head, NQC Secretariat Gerwill Cruz Ayesha Sayseng Josef Alec Geradila In the course of the two-day meeting, the Mojares Panel agreed on the parameters for the evaluation of the issue and the issuance of a formal report on the panel’s recommendation to the NHCP (see below).

3. The panel will review the decisions of the previous panels only in so far as these relate to new evidence presented by the Butuan and Limasawa proponents as well as new data independently collected by members of the panel in aid of the work of evaluation.
4. The panel members agreed that only the evidence as to the site of the First Easter Sunday Mass would be evaluated. Other evidence presented may or may not be considered depending on its weight on the decision regarding the site. Based on the presentations made before the panel, there were four specific sites considered as the scene of the 1521 Easter Mass and the associated event of the planting of the cross by Magellan and his men: (1) the municipality of Magallanes on Baug Island in Agusan del Norte and (2) Pinamanculan in Butuan City, and (3) Barangay Magallanes and (4) Barangay Triana, both in Limasawa. II. Sources Used Present-day technology used in the Internet and the digitization of rare books and archival documents proved advantageous for the panel members, for it provided access to needed sources. It also made immediate communication possible with foreign institutions where the Pigafetta manuscripts are kept. These repositories have digitized and uploaded their collections on their websites thus making it possible for the panel to collect needed sources on the Magellan expedition.

For the purpose of the panel’s work, the four known original Pigafetta manuscripts were obtained by the NHCP in digitized format through coordination and in agreement with their respective repositories: a) The Ambrosiana Codex - Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan, Italy b) The Yale-Beinecke Codex - Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. c) Manuscript 5650 - Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris d) Manuscript 24224 - Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris In addition, the NHCP obtained a digitized copy of the original Robertson transcription of the Ambrosiana manuscript listed as Ayer Collection MS 1391 v. 23 of the Robertson Papers. The panel also downloaded a digitized copy of the 1894 published transcription of the Pigafetta manuscript by Italian archivist Andrea Da Mosto, who was the first to transcribe a complete version of the Ambrosiana manuscript.^22 It was from these manuscripts that new translations were commissioned by the panel to be done by translators from the Ateneo de Manila and the University of the Philippines Department of Languages. One of the translators was panel member Dr. Francis Navarro who translated some of the sources from Spanish to English. (^22) A digital copy of the Robertson transcription was obtained by the NHCP from the James A. Robertson Papers at the Edward E. Ayer Collection in the Newberry Library, Chicago, Illinois. The same collection also has a copy of the Da Mostao book, but it could not be located by the librarian while the research for this resolution was taking place. The panel finally located a copy online at the website, Internet Archive (archive.org).