A growing number of historians - and plain citizens - are calling for an investigation of factual basis of Limasawa as site of the First Mass on land in the Philippines.

As March 31, 1996 nears - date of the 475th anniversary of the event that marks the beginning of Christianity in this part of the world - serious questions are being raised as to the truth of Limasawa's claim.

Little Footnote

For over 300 years, Butuan City was recognized as the site. Then in 1906, James. A. Robertson in Vol. 33 of his 55-volume magnum opus The Philippine Islands 1493 - 1898 said in footnote 263, "It (Mazaua) is now called the island of Limasawa, and has an area of about ten and one-half square miles." This tiny footnote, never explained nor elaborated was unquestioningly accepted. Up until 1965.

Not Probable

Today grave doubts attend the claim of Limasawa. These have to do with latitude, distance, time of arrival of the fleet, shape and size of the island of Limasawa compared to Mazaua, the name Mazaua, other clues Pigafetta wrote that identifies Mazaua such as stilt houses, anchorage, ricefield, all of which do not jibe with Limasawa.

Latitude

According to historian Prof. C. O. Resurreccion all primary sources are practically identical in pinpointing Mazaua's latitude as nine degrees 00 minutes North. "Direct witnesses" are diarist Antonio Pigafetta, Pilot Albo, Pilot Pancaldo ("Roteiro"), and de Brito. Masao, Butuan is exactly at 9 degrees 00 minutes N.

Distance

Pigafetta said the distance from Homonhon to Mazaua was 25 leguas. Between Homonhon and Limasawa is 16.09 leguas. On the other hand, Homonhon to Masao, Butuan City is 24.54 leguas.

Travel Time

Magellan's fleet left Homonhon morning of March 25, 1521 and anchored in Mazaua morning of March 28, more or less some 60 hours of travelling. At an average speed of 1.5 miles per hour, the fleet would reach Limasawa at around 8 in the evening of March 28, whereas it would reach Masao, Butuan at around 3:30 in the morning of March 28, more or less the time indicated by Pigafetta.

Name

All the primary sources named the island starting with the syllable MA, without prefix (syllable before MA). Thus : Pigafetta, Mazaua; de Brito, Mazaba; Maximilianus Transylvanus, Massana; the "Roteiro", Maçangor; Albo, Masava. Except for the French Maçangor; (which is how Mazaua would sound if spoken by a Frenchman), the variations in spelling can be explained in terms of the changes words undergo due to printing limitations and the ignorance of the printer. The letter v used to stand for w and u; while n is u erroneously inverted; b in Mazaba is the ignorant printer (who wasn't at the scene) substitution of the letter v with b.

Worlds Apart

Mazaua and Butuan were ruled separately by two brothers who were close and often visited one another. Their two kingdoms were linked by language, navigation, trade, blood ties, etc. Limasawa and Butuan have no such links. We doubt if Limasawa is Mazaua.

Balanghais

Pigafetta talks of seeing balanghais (wooden boats) in Mazaua. Some five (5) balanghais have been unearthed in Butuan; none in Limasawa.

Size and shape

Mazaua, as seen and as drawn by Pigafetta is a sting ray- shaped island, while Limasawa is a tiny worm-shaped island. More improbable - nay, impossible - is the proposition that Pigafetta's Mazaua, bigger than Bohol which is 1,117 square miles, is equal to Limasawa which is only three square miles!

All the clues as to the identity of Mazaua - distance, latitude, travel time, the name, balanghais, shape and size of Mazaua, stilt houses, anchorage, ricefields,many others -- all exclude Limasawa.

• House on Stilts

  Pigafetta says he went up to the palace of Raia Colambu "...built up high from the ground on huge posts of wood and it was necessary to ascend to it by means of ladders." Anyone who's gone to Limasawa would know only a fool builds a stilt house there. In fact, no one does. Houses there are squat, close to the ground as a way against cyclonic winds in this typhoon-prone area. In Butuan, due to floods, stilt houses are common.

• Anchorage

  "In the afternoon, we went in the ships [and anchored] near the dwellings of the king." A visit to Limasawa (which historians ought to do as a moral duty) will show that the whole island is hemmed in by the shoals full of corals, rocks and sandbanks. Only light pumpboats, 10 to 20 tons, dare go to shore and they approach it carefully. Magellan's lightest ship, Victoria, 85 tons, would have been wrecked if it got near the king's dwelling.

• Rice farming

  Today there is little rice grown in Limasawa. This year no hectarage was planted to rice. What riceland there may have been in March 1521 must have been hillside and therefore subsistence. It's improbable that the crop, if in Limasawa, would have needed the 100 men Magellan sent to help harvest king Colambu's rice crop.

• Sago

  Pigafetta talks of cake made from palm tree (sago) flour. There is no sago in Limasawa as it has no estuarine land only where sago will grow. In Butuan, sago (Lumbia) is plentiful, Butuanons even now eat all kinds of fare from sago flour, e.g., kinabul and tinampi.

• Mazaua

  Lexicographer Pigafetta heard it [the name] right and so all the other direct witnesses and primary sources.

  Adding up the improbabilities -- latitude, distance, travel time, houses on stilts, correct name, shape of Mazaua, size of Mazaua, the anchorage, ricefields -- one ends up with one logical sum: Limasawa cannot be Pigafetta's Mazaua. It never was. It exists only in a tiny footnote whose truth is directly equal to its length.