New take on Magellan, Lapu-lapu, the Sto. Niño

A new book sheds new, albeit controversial, light on the explorer Ferdinand Magellan and his nemesis, the Mactan chieftain Lapulapu (often spelled with a hyphen due to American predilections) and the Sto. Niño.

Dr. Danilo Gerona, a historian and former Jesuit scholastic who reads and speaks Spanish perfectly, launched middle of last year his take on all three, the book entitled, “Ferdinand Magellan, the Armada de Moluco  and  the  European Discovery of  the Philippines, Based on Primary Sources.” Danny, as he is known to friends, used to handle courses at the Ateneo de Naga University before deciding to go into private research work. Among his fine accomplishments is his doctoral dissertation submitted to the University of the Philippines in Diliman, which in 2005 was adjudged the Best Dissertation of the First Part of the Millennium.” Danny was also part of the second half of the team that the University of San Carlos Press and the Archdiocese of Cebu sent to Spain in November to comb the archives, especially the Archivo dela Provincia Augustiniana de Filipinas (APAF) in Valladaolid.

Working on documents he got much earlier from the archives in Spain, Danny piques the imagination and opens some can of worms in the book, which we hope to bring to Cebu in time for a plan by a small group of historians and academics to launch a kind of preparatory committee for the fifth centenary of the Magellan expedition in Cebu.

In as much as I don’t have a  copy on hand of his latest book, I asked Danny to e-mail me a gist in time for reflection as we approach the Sinulog Festival. Below are some facts in the book, some of which we are familiar with but three are most intriguing (Numbers  3, 5 and 6):

1. “The first European to mention at least two major islands in what eventually became the Philippines, the islands of Solor and Tendaya, (in reference to Sulu and Samar), was a Portuguese named Duarte Barbosa who wrote his book “O Livro” in 1516, five years earlier than Magellan’s discovery of the islands. ”

2. “There were three secular priests in the Magellan expedition but only one survived the journey and reached the Philippines, Don Pedro de Valderrama. One of the priests joined the mutiny in South America and was marooned in the Patagonian desert. The other died on the journey. ”

3. “Lapulapu, who is depicted in paintings and monuments as a young and muscular man, may actually be an old man in his late sixties or seventies, as reported by a Portuguese chronicler, Gaspar Correa, a contemporary of Magellan. ”

4. “Lapulapu and Humabon were brothers-in-law. This was the report of an eyewitness, Gines de Mafra, a crew  member of the Magellan expedition. The quarrel between the two was spurred by port taxes (or tribute), which Lapulapu levied on foreign vessels as they docked in Punta Pangusan or Punta Engaño instead of docking in Cebu, which angered Humabon. Thus did Lapulapu earn the sinister reputation of being a pirate.”

5. “The same report and other primary sources claim that Lapulapu, revered as the first native to express his defiance to Spanish rule, actually readily acknowledged Spanish sovereignty and was even willing to render tribute. What he refused to acknowledge was Humabon’s authority, which was being endorsed by Magellan.

6. “The original Santo Niño, Pigafetta’s baptismal gift to Juana, was certainly small and was a part of a Marian statue, similar to the object of centuries-old devotion of the Spaniards, the Nuestra Señora de Atocha, whose child Jesus was detachable from the mother. The Santo Niño found in 1565, is described as tall at 1 and 1/2 feet, which would mean having a Marian statue (holding it in the Magellan version) that would also be very tall. The Magellan and the Legazpi Santo Niños therefore, if we go by the reports, are not the same.”

According to Danny, most of the significant or key data for his book were derived from the Museo Naval, Archivo General de Indias, the Biblioteca Nacional de España, with the numerous Portuguese reports in the original Portuguese language.

USC Press hopes to bring Danny and his book to Cebu soon in time for a possible publication of his much-coveted dissertation and another upcoming book on early Cebu.

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I wish to welcome back Cebu’s adopted son, the historian and Cebuanist Dr. Michael Cullinane, who always finds time during this period of the year to leave his teaching duties at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to be in Cebu and whip up whatever intellectual ferment there is in this island, together of course with USC’s only emeritus professor, Dr. Resil Mojares, who always opens his large abode for Mike. More books to come very soon from these two and more!