Bueno, Kyla Fuentes, Grecel Plaza, Jose Mari Ramboyong, BM The Pacto de Sangre (Blood Compact), despite its crucial significance in Fil conceptions of history, is seldom interrogated in Philippine historiography Earlier, more than 40 years after Ferdinand Magellan died in the Battle of Mactan in Cebu, Legazpi was ordered by Spain in 1564 to launch an expedition to establish colonies and to pick up a lucrative spice trade. After almost a year of sailing, the Legazpi expedition reached the Philippines and landed first on the island of Cibabao or what we csil Samar today but failed to settle there. He and his companions went off to sail south, to the direction of Mindanao, but due to the winds, his ship was forced to take the route back to the Viseyas. Legazpi landed on the shores of Bohol, but they were given a hostile welcome by the Boholanos, who mistook them as Portuguese who had come to plunder and With the help of his Malay pilot, Legazpi was able to explain to Datu Sikatuna of Bohol and Datu Sigala of Loboc that they were not Portuguese and that they had come to offer peace. Thus, a blood compact was don bonds between the two parties. order to seal their friendship and establish amicable ‘At present, the compact made between Sikatuna and Legazpi is celebrated and ‘commemorated annually and called the Sandugo Festival in Bohol. Itinvolves a reenactment of the blood compact, a religious mass and parade on the streets and the search for the Miss Bohol beauty pageant. To the Filipino, the blood compact was an agreement between equals, a pledge of eternal fraternity and al