Position-paper

BUTUAN; SITE OF THE FIRST MASS

In the year 1521 the Philippines was just another young country that began to establish its identity when Ferdenad Magellan, an invader from Portugal, arrived. During the mercenary and competition against the spies he sailed with some men for the expedition to search for raw ingredients. There is a controversy regarding the site of the first mass ever celebrated on Philippine soil. Pigafetta tells us that it was held Easter Sunday, the 31st of March 1521, on an island called “Mazaua.” Two native chieftains were in attendance: the rajah of Mazaua and the rajah of Butuan. After the Mass the party went up a little hill and planted a wooden cross upon its summit. The subject of controversy is the identity of this place which Pigafetta calls “Mazaua.” There are two conflicting claims as to its identity: one school of thoughts points to the little island south of Leyte which in the maps is called Limasawa; the other scjool rejects that claim and points instead to the beach called Masao at the mouth of Agusan River in northern Mindanao, near what was then the village (now the city) of Butuan. Other school pointed that in reality, Magellan’s route never included Butuan as one of its destinations. From the eastern part of the Philippines, reaching the island of Homonhon, Magellan proceeded to Limasawa and thereupon met two kings, namely the datu of Limasawa and the datu of Butuan. After celebrating the first mass in that same island, the explorer and his men set out for Cebu in search for greater resources.So this suggested that the mass never happened Butuan but on Limasawa island instead. On June 19, 1960, Republic Act No. 2733, called the Limasawa Law, was enacted without Executive approval on June 19, 1960. The legislative fiat declared The site in Magallanes, Limasawa Island in the Province of Leyte, where the first Mass in the Philippines was held is hereby declared a national shrine to commemorate the birth of Christianity in the Philippines. President Carlos P. Garcia did not sign the law because he was not sure of the fact that the 'Mazaua' in the Pigafetta Codex is really Limasawa. It was the American historian Emma Helen Blair and John Alexander Robertson who claimed in 1909 that the island of Mazaua is the present island of Limasawa without giving any explanation for the identification.

Local executives and Church officials as well as historians here said they have new scientific evidence to substantiate the re-filing of a petition before the National Historical Institute (NHI) asserting that Butuan City — particularly Mazzaua Island, now Barangay Pinamangculan — was the official site of the first Mass on Easter Sunday in 1521. Among the pieces of evidence are ten(10) 1,600-year-old Balahanghai boats believed to have been used for trade and to transport people for worship services. "We waited for more scientific evidences to strongly substantiate the Mazzaua claim until geomorphologists and archeologists came up with official reports that indeed Mazzaua Island was the site of the first Mass," Fr. Joesilo Amalia, trustee of the Butuan City Cultural and Historical Foundation Inc. and curator of the Butuan Diocese Museum.. When the Republic Act No. 2733 was passed, the Butuan City Cultural and Historical Foundation Inc., (BCHFI) with the backing of the Butuan City government in the early 1980s up to the ’90s, contested the declaration. This prompted the government in 1994 to form the Gancayco Commission headed by then Supreme Court Associate Justice Emilio Gancayco. Mafra, one of the voyagers, which bolsters the Butuan claim. He would also claim that some parts of the Ambrosiana Codex, on which the Limasawa claim was founded, was largely mistranslated. Because the shape of the isle is almost circular, 3-4 leagues translate to an area of from 2,214 up to 3,930 hectares. In contrast, Limasawa is only 698 hectares. Historians stated that they have new evidences that the first mass belongs to Butuan City. Butuan City Heritage society president Greg Hontiveros said that they are confident in their new data and evidence that the mass was held on their City. It pointed out that one important evidence is the yale codex which according to Magellan’s scholar is more impressive that the Ambrosiana Codex. Therefore, it is high time for contemporary historians and the Philippine government to correct their mistake and accept that the first Christian mass was celebrated in Masao, Butuan, Agusandel Norte and not in Limasawa, Leyte, on Easter Sunday, March 31, 1521.

REFERENCES: "A short Philippine History before the 1898 Revolution". Newsletter of the District of Asia. Sspxasia.com. 2001. Retrieved 2007-11-12. Bernad, Miguel. "Butuan or Limasawa: The Site of the First Mass in the Philippines: A Reexaminationof the Evidence". First Site of Mass in the Philippines. 5: 146–154 – via BUDHI: A journal of ideas and culture. Agoncillo, Teodoro A. (1962). Philippine History. Manila, Philippines: Inang Wika Publishing Co. Agoncillo, Teodoro A. (1974). Introduction to Filipino History. Quezon City,

Submitted by: Ayon, Jecko Mart I, Alconaba, Gaspar Jr. Apura, Mario Catudio, Aljames j

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