March 16, 1521

Today, March 16, in 1521, the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, working under the employ of the Spanish crown, arrived in the Philippines on an epic voyage of discovery and exploration. He had been tasked to find a way west from Spain. And he did so by sailing across the Atlantic down to the southernmost tip of South America then up across the Pacific to what is now the Philippines.

Magellan did not make it back to Spain. He was killed by natives in Mactan after baptizing the ruler of Cebu and a few of his subjects. But the rest of his crew made it back to complete the historic first circumnavigation of the world. News of these accomplishments prompted Spain to send another expedition headed by Miguel Lopez de Legazpi who arrived in the Philippines in 1565.

It is important to make a distinction between the voyages of Magellan and Legazpi in light of attempts by certain sectors to rewrite history. The voyage of Magellan was a voyage of exploration and discovery. The voyage of Legazpi was one of Christianization and colonization. If the 5th Centennial of the Christianization of the Philippines is to be observed faithfully according to history, it should be in 2065 and not 2021 as some sectors want it to be.

Magellan did not come to the Philippines to Christianize anyone. That he did manage to baptize a few natives was only incidental. He was there already, in the midst of pagan natives, so might as well sprinkle them with holy water. Pardon the seeming frivolity, but I think that was all there was to it. The natives were not properly introduced to the faith. It was more of a political or diplomatic ploy, a means to pacify the natives.

Magellan did not come to the Philippines to Christianize anyone because nobody knew at the time if there was even any Philippines. The world in Magellan’s day was thought to be flat. In an effort to find out if it was not flat, Magellan was sent to sail west to see if he did not fall off the edge of the earth. It was a voyage of discovery and exploration. It was not to Christianize anyone. In fact, the only priest with him worked as something else, as a chronicler, I think.

The voyage of Legazpi was different. Having learned of what happened during the trip of Magellan, Spain wanted to take possession of the lands he had claimed for the Spanish crown. The voyage of Legazpi was therefore a voyage of colonization and of Christianization. Christianization was an important phase in the colonization process. It prepped those to be colonized into embracing a new kind of life.

The natives that Magellan managed to baptize never became Christians in the truest sense of the word. Other than their baptism, they had nothing else to proceed from. Those who baptized them left them just days afterward. They had no one to nurture their faith. Given the language barrier between the Spaniards and the natives and the briefness with which the Spaniards stayed, it is even doubtful if some basic prayers and catechism ever passed between the parties.

It is therefore safe to assume that any semblance of Christianization the natives had upon their baptism must have simply evaporated the moment the Spaniards left days afterward. Thus, it simply does not make any sense to celebrate the 5th Centennial of the Christianization of the Philippines counting from the year Magellan arrived in 1521. It should be counted from the year Legazpi arrived in 1565. The 5th Centennial should be in 2065, not 2021.