MANILA, Philippines - The 39-member Philippine Balangay Expedition team arrived in Manila yesterday after a four-month journey across six countries in Southeast Asia.
The team, onboard vessels Masawa Hong Butuan, Diwata ng Lahi and Sama Tawi-Tawi, reached Harbor Square at the Cultural Center of the Philippines at around 9 a.m. after sailing from Sangley Point in Cavite.
The three boats are replicas of the precolonial balangay boats, patterned after the boat unearthed in Butuan in 1975 and carbon dated to 320 AD.
The team sailed 12,600 kilometers from Butuan City to Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and Cambodia.
It sailed through rough seas using ancient navigation methods such as charting courses using the positions of the sun, stars, wind and clouds.
Among the personalities present to welcome the expedition team were former President Fidel Ramos, Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., Philippine Coast Guard commandant Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo, and former Philippine Army Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim.
Team leader Arturo Valdez said they received enthusiastic support from Filipinos in countries where they docked.
“Our countrymen even came to our rescue several times when supplies ran low or when storms would drive us off course,” Valdez said.
The Philippine Balangay Expedition was launched in September last year to retrace the pre-Hispanic transportation and trade routes of early Filipinos.