I agree that the first mass happened in Limasawa.

There are many

credible evidence that the first mass happened there. First, Francisco
Albo's diary which states that Magellan expedition is going towards the
southern end of Limasawa. Second, Antonio Pigaffeta testimony
regarding the route of the expedition. He also has maps and sketches
that lead to Limasawa. Francisco Albo and Antonio Pigaffeta are credible
sources because they're part of the Magellan expedition. Third is the
Legazpi Expedition. One of the destinations of the expedition leads to
Limasawa. Another information that supports the claim in Limasawa is
the Republic Act 2733. The act declares that the first mass in the
Philippines was actually held in Limasawa, Leyte. Last is the NHCP or
National Historical Commission of the Philippines agreed that the first
mass happened in Limasawa because Butuan evidences are not
sufficient.

Isang maliit na pulô ang Limasáwa na sákop ngayon ng lalawigan ng Leyte at

mahalaga sa kasaysayan dahil dito nagpunta si Fernando Magallanes pagkaraang
unang dumaong at mamahinga sa “Homonhón” noong Marso 1521. Dalawang
mahalagang pangyayari ang naganap sa Limasawa. Una, ang pakikipagsandugo ni
Magallanes sa pinunò ng isla na si Raha Kulambu. Ito ang unang sandugo ng isang
Filipino at ng isang Español. Ikalawa, ang tinatawag na “Unang Misa sa Filipinas”
noong Linggo ng Pagkabuhay, 31 Marso 1521. Isinagawa ang misa ni Fray Pedro de
Valderrama sa baybayin ng isla. Pagkatapos iniutos ni Magallanes ang pagtitirik ng
isang malaking krus sa ituktok ng isang buról na nakaharap sa dagat. Isang matagal
na kontrobersiya kung saan naganap ang Unang Misa. Sa mga talâ ni Antonio
Pigafetta, isinulat niyang “Mazaua” ang pangalan ng pulô. Iginiit ng ilang mananaysay
na ito rin ang “Masagua” na binanggit sa ekspedisyon ni Miguel Lopez de Legazpi sa
Butuan. Gayunman, pagkatapos ng pagsusuri sa mga lumang mapa at dokumento,
isang monograp ni Fr. Miguel Bernad noong 1981 ang naglinaw na isang pagkakamali
ang tradisyong Butuan at ang Limasawa ang tunay na tinutukoy ni Pigafetta na
“Mazaua.” Pinagtibay ito ng pag-aaral ni William Henry Scott noong 1982 kung paano
nagsimula ang pagkakamaling sa Butuan naganap ang Unang Misa. (VSA)

The NHCP has adopted the recommendation of a panel of experts reaffirming earlier
findings that the 1521 Easter Sunday Mass was celebrated in Limasawa and not in
Butuan, as claimed by some historians. “The panel unanimously agreed that the
evidence and arguments presented by the pro-Butuan advocates are not sufficient
and convincing enough to warrant the repeal or reversal of the ruling on the case by
the NHI (National Historical Institute),” NHCP chair Rene Escalante said. The issue of
the exact location of the historic Mass was earlier resolved by the NHI, the
forerunner of the NHCP, through two panels of experts: the first led by former
Supreme Court Justice Emilio Gancayco in 1995 and the second by historian Benito
Legarda in 2008. Both panels ruled that the site of the 1521 Easter Sunday Mass was
Limasawa Island. The recommendation of the recent panel led by historian and
National Artist for Literature Resil Mojares was supported by the Catholic Bishops’
Conference of the Philippines, which had sent its own church historian as panel
member and several members of the Church Historians Association of the
Philippines. The panel reassessed the studies and literature on the matter, gathered
the extant copies of Antonio Pigafetta’s chronicles and other accounts abroad,
surveyed the presumed sites of the event in Butuan and Limasawa, consulted
experts in geology and cartography, and submitted its report for review by the
history departments of various Philippine universities.

Per Pigafetta, chronicler of the Magellan Expedition, the Easter Sunday Mass that
expedition chaplain Fr. Pedro Valderama celebrated on March 31, 1521, happened in
a place he identified as Mazaua. Gift To The People Limasawa Mayor Melchor
Petracorta said he and his constituents were very happy that the NHCP stood by
history and were hopeful that its decision would “settle longtime disputes on the
issue.” Petracorta told the Inquirer. “It’s really a gift to the people of Limasawa.
Actually, it’s a victory not only of Limasawa but of the entire Eastern Visayas,” he
said. The Diocese of Maasin, which has jurisdiction over Limasawa, was also
overjoyed by the NHCP’s decision. Fr. Johnrey Sibi, head of the Limasawa
Commission, said everyone was now “inspired to work hard” for the celebration of
the 500th anniversary of the first Mass in March 2021.

Paper Trail Local historian Rolando Borrinaga, who had researched on and
represented Limasawa before the panel of experts and the NHCP, considered the
decision “sweet vindication.” In its report, the panel and the NHCP endorsed
Borrinaga’s claim that the historic Mass was held in Barangay Triana, and not in
Barangay Magallanes. They said Saub Point in Triana should likewise be recognized
as the site of the cross planted by Magellan and his men. The National
Quincentennial Committee (NQC) appropriated funds and provided the panel with
pertinent documents. Through official correspondences with various foreign
institutions, the NQC obtained a high-resolution digital copy of the Pigafetta
manuscripts, including the French version (Nancy Codex) currently kept in Yale
University’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library; the Italian version in the
Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana (Ambrosiana Codex) in Milan, Italy; and the two
French versions in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. It also secured the
transcriptions and notes made by American scholar James Alexander Robertson, who
translated Pigafetta’s manuscripts into English in 1906, from the Edward Ayer
Collection at Newberry Library in Chicago. The panel likewise obtained and consulted
the accounts of other survivors of the Magellan expedition, like Gines de Mafra,
Francisco Albo, and the “Genoese Pilot.” Pigafetta’s eyewitness account is the most
detailed and only surviving account of the first Mass in the Philippines. But there are
different interpretations of his account on where it was held. Historian Gabriel Atega
said Butuan had long been considered the site of the Mass. He argued that the shift
from Butuan to Limasawa occurred after the publication of Robertson’s notes. Atega
said Robertson’s translation of Pigafetta’s manuscripts into English was based on the
“garbled” Italian text of the Ambrosiana Codex that Carlo Amoretti, prefect and
conservator of the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, transcribed and published in 1800. He said
the Ambrosiana Codex was “heavily edited and full of inaccuracies” and, vis-à-vis
Robertson’s translation, should not be used as the basis for determining the nautical
coordinates of the Magellan expedition.

Expedition Instead, he encouraged the panel to use the Nancy Codex, of which a
translation by English scholar Raleigh Ashlin Skelton was published in 1969. But
according to proponents of the Mass in Limasawa, Robertson provided a footnote
that the present name of Mazaua, the site of the historic Mass, is Limasawa. They
said Skelton also identified Limasawa as the current name of Mazaua. On the
Mojares panel’s request, the NHCP secured a copy of each extant Pigafetta
manuscript abroad and had the section that narrated the 1521 Easter Sunday Mass
transcribed and translated. The panel later noted Robertson’s observation that the
Ambrosiana Codex was “workmanlike rather than elegant.” It agreed with Skelton
that it might have been derived from the original Pigafetta journal while the Nancy
Codex was a copy where Pigafetta reworked some of his text to entice sponsors to
publish his manuscript for the use of future explorers. “After noting that Robertson
and Skelton agree that the aforesaid codices complement each other and their
translation had only minor differences, the panel dismissed Mr. Atega’s claim that
Skelton should be used as the standard text in determining the site of the 1521
Easter Sunday Mass. The panel also disagreed with Mr. Atega’s assertion that
historians who supported the Limasawa position relied only on the Ambrosiana
Codex and the Robertson translation,” the NHCP’s Escalante said. Atega emphasized
the determination of longitude to pinpoint the location of the first Mass. Citing
primary sources, he traced the route taken by the Magellan expedition and
concluded that 93/4 degrees latitude combined with his reading of longitude
coordinates in other sources led to Butuan as the site of the Mass. Although it
deemed Atega’s research commendable, the panel said longitudinal measurements
during the Age of Exploration were “imprecise and unreliable” because these
navigational coordinates were estimates and scientifically imprecise. It pointed out
the chronometer, the instrument invented by John Harrison to measure longitude
accurately, was only invented in the 1760s. Published in Inquirer Visayas