See You, Voyager

THE PEALING BELLS OF the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño de Cebu and hymns from inside the basilica rent the air with solemn grace as I wait for my turn to enter the circular kiosk that houses Magellan’s Cross, a wooden cross about 12 feet high that rests under a Bibli­cal fresco. It is no ordinary relic but a 16th-century marker of the arrival of Chris­tianity to the Philippines. Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan, who was the first to circumnavigate the Earth, planted the cross here and the Roman Catholic faith spread across the land like wildfire. Inside the kiosk, I stand witness to the Age of Exploration and the quest for ‘God, gold and glory’ that Magellan brought to the Philippines with mission­ary zeal. I toss a peso at the base of the cross for a measure of ‘good luck’, like the locals do, before making my way out.

My hunt for Magellan’s legacy began in 2018. That year, a three-hour van ride on bumpy roads over rivers, along a vol­cano and through tropical forests brought me to Kudat from Kota Kinabalu, the state capital of Sabah, in Eastern Malaysia (Borneo). It got me closer to my dream that fructified half-an-hour after reaching Kudat, at the tip of Borneo, locally known as Tanjung Simpang Mangayau, a corrup­tion of Tanjung (cape) Sampang (junc­tion) Mangazou (battle). This is where the greyish South China Sea merges with the deep-blue Sulu Sea that extends north­west to the Philippines, both part of the North Pacific Ocean. I’ve always held the ‘tip’ or the headland special and the local chatter confirms what I have known all along. Beneath the tumultuous waves, they say, lie sunken ships with treasure. A lighthouse afar on Pulau Kalampunian is a reminder of past shipwrecks. But I’m no treasure hunter. The tip is also special because on the return voyage of the Victoria, the only ship among five to have successfully returned to Spain after cir­cumnavigating the earth for the first time ever in the 16th century, it docked here for 42 days for repairs and fresh supplies after its Captain-General Ferdinand Magellan was speared by locals in Mactan, Philippines. I have always been in awe of Magellan’s voyage, the first one across the world through uncharted terri­tory, encountering violent locals, manag­ing a mutinous crew, and fighting disease and squalor. As the waves crashed into the rocky loaf abutting the South China Sea and the Sulu Sea, my gaze was transfixed on the far horizon to the northwest where the blue depths met a greyish cumulo-nimbus, almost beckoning for discovery. That’s when I made up my mind to head out to the Philippines, where Magellan landed with his depleted crew in 1521 and succumbed in a local battle in less than two months—in the process, bringing the Roman Catholic faith to the archi­pelago, which today remains an indelible part of its memory and culture.

The next year, on the eve of Covid, I landed in Magellan country. The Thai Airways flight made the crossing over South China Sea and Sulu Sea look easy but the colours remained distinct as abundant marine life bobbed up from the depths until touchdown in Manila, the capital of the 7,640-island nation.

Over centuries, Manila has been a melting pot conditioned by local rulers, Arabs, Spaniards, Englishmen, Japanese and Americans. Even today, the cosmo­politan verve of its markets and business districts is a visual treat. Now, Magellan died in 1521, much before the Spaniard Miguel López de Legazpi could reach Manila in 1571, declaring it a part of New Spain (Mexico) and establishing a city council in what today is known as Intra­muros or “inside the walls”, in Manila. I took my Grab radio taxi to the Walled City of Intramuros and booked a hotel there. The entire 0.7sqkm area seems for­tified with imposing structures, such as centuries-old private houses, churches, including Manila’s oldest San Augustin Church, as well as the Manila Cathe­dral, a defence fortress built by Legazpi named Fort Santiago, several curios and eateries, in stretches, connected by corbelled pathways.

A couple of days in Intramuros are not enough to soak in all the events that took place within its walls. But that’s about the time I had, and Fort Santiago was a revela­tion, where many perished in its prisons during the Spanish rule and World War II. Philippine national hero José Rizal, too, was imprisoned here and executed in 1896. The Rizal Shrine inside the fort rec­reates his last days, with footsteps carved in stone, vividly.

A walk down Intramuros was an ex­ercise in time travel, but I was in a hurry to reach Cebu, about 800km south, where Christianity made its foray into the Philippines thanks to Magellan. On April 14, 1521, the first recorded conver­sion in the Philippines took place when the king and queen of Cebu and their subjects embraced the Catholic faith during Sunday Mass. On that day alone, Magellan and his men are supposed to have baptised 800 Cebuanos.

After a one-and-a-half-hour Cebu Pacific flight over scattered land and sea, I landed in Cebu. The Mactan-Cebu International Airport is the second busi­est in the Philippines after Manila, with an array of arches that segregate the gates. It was built by the local Megawide Construction Corporation and India’s GMR Group. As I took the cab to my hotel in the heart of the city, what stood out was how tradition coexisted with modernity. Plush stretches stood alongside Spanish-style cottages, there were IT enclaves with glass façades and old-world haciendas with wide open spaces, Burger Kings and Jollibees jostled for the tastebud with the local lechon shops and carinderias (road­side food stalls serving cheap Filipino food). There were stretches where I could view the blue and turquoise sea fringed with numerous barangays (the smallest administrative unit in the country) amid old-world jeepneys (shared public mini­buses) and habal-habals (motorcycle taxis). Against this backdrop, I set out to capture the last days of Magellan.

Portuguese sailor Ferdinand Magellan set sail to the west from Seville on August 10, 1519 under the Spanish Crown to explore a counter route to Asia since the eastward route from the Cape of Good Hope was controlled by the Portuguese. After his repeated petitions to Portugal’s King Manuel I to fund the expedition were turned down, Magellan switched sides and convinced King Charles of Spain to allow him on a voyage to the Moluccas through the western channel.

Magellan’s voyage was fraught with risks as it sailed through Atlantic islands amid storms and mutinous sailors, and reached South America before discover­ing the ‘Magellan’ Strait to find the Pacific Ocean. By November 28, 1520, Magellan’s fleet of five ships dwindled to three, and as he looked west to the still waters that spread out to infinity, he named the vast­ness Mars Pacifico (Pacific Ocean) owing to its apparent calmness.

Magellan had no idea about how vast the water body was and believed that South America was separated from the Spice Islands by a small sea that could be crossed in as little as three-four days. It took him five months to reach the Phil­ippines where he docked on the island of Homonhon on March 16, 1521 before making his way to Cebu on April 7, 1521.

The Basilica Minore del Santo Niño de Cebu houses the Christ Child or Santo Niño, the oldest Christian relic in the Philippines, widely venerated as miraculous by Filipino Catholics

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A STROLL ALONG the old part of Cebu gives a flavour of its long Span­ish heritage, and Magellan’s stamp is hard to ignore. In front of the present-day City Hall of Cebu on Magallanes Street (named after Magellan), a stone kiosk houses Magellan’s Cross. The structure’s ceiling in blue background depicts the baptism of Rajah Humabon and his household, and the planting of the wooden cross by Magellan. Humabon was the ruler of Cebu when Magellan arrived and was impressed by the Christian faith before converting. The imposing cross at the cen­tre of the structure is lit with candles at the bottom to usher in good luck by a throng of believers who visit the kiosk often after making a pilgrimage to the oldest church in the Philippines, the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño de Cebu, or the Minor Basilica of the Holy Child of Cebu, next door.

The church houses the Christ Child or Santo Niño, the oldest Christian relic in the Philippines, widely venerated as mi­raculous by Filipino Catholics. One of the most beloved and recognisable Filipino cultural icons, the 12-inch Santo Niño was originally gifted by Magellan to Rajah Humabon and his wife on the occasion of their baptism. Carved in Flemish style, the artefact is draped in imperial regalia and bears jewellery offered by devotees over the centuries. Today, Santo Niño sits behind a bulletproof glass inside the chapel within the basilica.

The image of Santo Niño was found in a partially burnt hut on April 28, 1565, the same day when the foundation stone of the church was laid. The present-day building has been designated by the Holy See as the ‘Mother and Head of all Churches in the Philippines’.

A walk around the church and the convent within the basilica, always teeming with devotees and a sprinkling of Augustinian friars for its upkeep, led me to the worship area with the main altar flanked by several saints. The pews were full and hymns, though in the local Cebuano language, rent the air with a metre that could perhaps resonate on the other side of the Pacific (Latin and South America are Portuguese and Spanish-speaking territories) as if in acknowledgement of Magellan’s impact on the land he helped the West discover.

In Cebu, the annual dancing feast of Sinulog is held every third Sunday of January in honour of Santo Niño where the image is taken out to the streets amid much fanfare. You will find much merchandise, from keychains to tees and cups, centred round the Santo Niño theme in Cebu. “When it comes to religion and spirituality, Filipinos can be very expressive. Through the Santo Niño, for example, many have dressed up their statues of the Holy Child de­pending on what they pray for or aspire to. There is Santo Niño wearing a basket­ball jersey or doctor’s lab coat aside from the typical gold-laced swaddling clothes. I consider this practice as a desire for a closer relationship with the divine. Peo­ple are able to find their personal, unique connection to God through Santo Niño. Filipinos continue to re-imagine the relevance of the Holy Child through the different expressions of the same faith throughout the centuries,” elaborates David de Castro, an executive with a top outsourcing firm who hails from the neighbouring island of Bohol.

As I make my way out of the basilica through the oldest road in the Philip­pines, Colon Street, named after Christo­pher Columbus, and now a commercial hub, festooned and decked up for the gastronomical delights of its famed night market, it’s time to pay a short visit to Fort San Pedro, a military defence structure built under the command of Legazpi in the pier quarter of the city. Built as the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines, the stone mortar triangular fort has two sides facing the sea. A part of the fort today is a museum that houses Spanish docu­ments, paintings and sculpture. Though it is the smallest fort in the Philippines, a walkthrough within its ramparts covers a range of experience—from cannons fac­ing the sea to an observatory roof garden to the museum and the sprawling Plaza Independencia that fronts it. The fort has witnessed the Spanish occupation of the Philippines from the 16th century until the Americans took over from 1898 to 1946. But here, again, I find Magellan’s legacy in Legazpi’s creation. After all, it was the trail set by Magellan that Legazpi followed under the aegis of King Philip II of Spain later in the 16th century, and like the first explorer, Legazpi died in the Philippines in 1572, unable to complete the voyage back to Spain. King Philip II is a pivotal figure for, when he was prince, Spanish explorer Ruy Lopez de Villalobos during his 1542-46 expedition, following Magellan’s trail, named the archipelago after the prince—Philippines.

About 10km to the east lies Mactan which now houses a spanking new airport, hip stores and seafront hotels. This is where Magellan died battling local chieftain Lapu Lapu on April 27, 1521. Magellan’s missionary zeal in converting the entire population of the area met with resistance from Mactan chieftain Lapu Lapu whose troops outnumbered the Europeans and speared Magellan with bamboo. A short distance away is Lapu Lapu City, a series of densely populated barangays with an unmistakable Korean imprint today. There are Korean res­taurants, apartment blocks, groceries, karaoke bars, you name it. Why? “They [Koreans] come here in droves to learn English and fall in love with the weather. Philippines is also a very affordable place,” says Myrna Pulvera, a homemaker and food supplier in Lapu Lapu City, who counts many Koreans among her clients.

Away from the humdrum, nearer to the coast, is the Mactan Shrine with a monument to Lapu Lapu and a marker indicating Magellan’s defeat. The site is believed to be the approximate location of the Battle of Mactan in which Magel­lan perished. It is today a garden with two imposing figures who shaped the destiny of a nation.

Three years later, after the pandemic ebbed, I would return to the Philip­pines—particularly to Siargao, a surfing paradise, at the easternmost edge of the island nation where I witnessed 15-feet waves crash on the shore. It’s not far from Homonhon island where Magellan dropped anchor in the Philippines. As I gazed at the eastern sky, the sheer size of the Pacific dawned on me—not a shred of land stood between me and Mexico. Magellan would have felt the same by fixing his gaze to the west.

Fact File

How To Reach: Catch a flight from India to Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur or Singapore and proceed on a connecting flight to Manila, Philippines. Total travel time could vary from six to nine hours depending on the port of embarkation.

Manila Folder: Travel around the city in Grab taxis and jeepneys, wherever pos­sible. While Grab is a radio cab and will not burn a hole in your pocket, jeepneys are an effective way to move around the city to watch locals. Stay in either Intramuros (Walled City) or Makati, the touristy part of the city known as mini- Manhattan owing to its highrises. Walk around the corbelled paths of Intramu­ros and marvel at old-world Spanish architecture with San Augustin Church, Fort Santiago, among others. Head out to Rizal Park in the evening for a local bite and walk by the promenade (Manila Bay) at sunset. Visit the numerous malls, like SM or Greenbelt, in Makati, gorge on global cuisine and shop till you drop.

Cebu Carousel: Again, Grab is the best bet to move around the city, along with jeepneys and habal-habals (motorcycle taxis). Visit the Old City of Cebu with some historic sites, such as the Minor Basilica of the Holy Child of Cebu, Magellan’s Cross, Fort San Pedro and Colon Street. Hop across to the other end of town by crossing one of the three bridges over the Mactan Channel and land in Lapu Lapu City. Pay a visit to the Mactan Shrine, the approximate site of the Battle of Mactan where national hero Lapu Lapu speared missionary navigator Ferdinand Magellan in 1521.

Siargao Sojourn: Take a van or trike from the airport to General Luna, which houses most hotels and hostels, in the south-east part of the island facing the choppy Pacific Ocean. Visit Cloud Nine, a surfing paradise, at General Luna; take a boat tour to the enchanting Sugba Lagoon; get on with some diving action in Maasin River; or just admire the waves crash on to the rocks off Magpupungko Beach. Go island hopping to at least five different locations, including Daku island, the farthest point off Siargao to witness 15-foot breakers from close range, and the Pacific stretching out to infinity.

About The Author

Moinak Mitra

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