MAASIN CITY, Philippines (11 March) -- Nutrition inspectorates from the regional and national level evaluate nutrition accomplishments here to defend the national award given to the city last year, City Mayor Maloney Samaco revealed during the radio program held this morning at station DyDM.
In his interview, Samaco disclosed that the evaluators, (2) from Manila and (3) from Tacloban City, started their validation today, March 11 until March 13. They selected (5) barangays which was drawn from the 70 total barangays in the city, namely Sta. Rosa, San isidro, Tunga-tunga, Sta. Cruz and Bato I.
Although, all of the barangays were required to prepare all the necessary documents that are needed in the evaluation, Mayor Samaco said that they had to defend their title received last year as Consistent Regional Outstanding Winner in Nutrition (CROWN) Awardee.
Samaco relayed that Maasin City was awarded four times being an outstanding achiever in the field of nutrition, this year, hopefully will be the 5th, he said. The CROWN award is given to Green Banner Awardees which maintained good performance in managing nutrition plans for three consecutive years.
Areas which have received the CROWN Award are monitored by an inter-agency National Evaluation Team for a period of three (3) years to check whether their efforts in maintaining a downward trend of malnutrition are sustained through a well coordinated plan implementation, it was learned.
The Maasin City Nutrition Council was supported by the inter agency participation as members, the Barangay Nutrition Scholars, Barangay Health Workers and the Barangay Council. (PIA-Southern Leyte)
EVOLUTIONAL HISTORY OF MAASIN
The island of Limasawa in Southern Leyte carved a very significant place in Philippine history. In 1521, a Portuguese-born Spanish explorer and navigator, Ferdinand Magellan and his crew came ashore and celebrated the first Roman Catholic Mass on the island. Incidental to the historic event, Magellan made peace with two Filipino rulers, Rajah Kolambu and Rajah Siani who subsequently were converted to Christianity. A marker notes the spot on Limasawa where their blood compact of frienship and alliance was sealed.
Southern Leyte, for centuries, was actually an integral part of the island of Leyte. During the Spanish period, the region was sparsely populated. Continued Moro slave raiding discouraged the establishment and stabilization of other large towns. In the 19th century, immigration from the provinces of Cebu and Bohol increased the population of the region and opened the land towards farming.
One of the oldest towns in Southern Leyte is Maasin, nowadays called Maasin City. Little is known about its pre-Spanish existence. When the Spanish missionaries became active in their missions, they discovered that the Maasin community was already organized, with its people friendly and interested in embracing the Catholic faith. The community was formally established as a parish by the missionaries of the Society of Jesus in the 1700s and was called "nipa". This was authenticated by a piece of stone from a long destroyed convent that bears the inscription: "Pa. De Tagnipa - año 1776."
The renaming of the town of Maasin is related to the incident when some Spaniards, who needed drinking water, scanned the shorelines and found Canturing River. They asked the natives in Castillan Spanish while gesturing towards the river, "Que pueblo es este?" Without hesitation, the natives answered "Maasin" (meaning salty), thinking that the Spaniards were asking them how the water tasted. From that time on, the place has been called Maasin.
The town grew rapidly in the 1700s after the Jesuit priests built the first church of which ruins still exists today between the two districts of Abgao and Mantahan. The Jesuit administration prevailed from 1700 through 1768. Subsequently, Augustinian fathers took over the parish from 1768 to 1843 during which the townspeople, with the guidance of the Spanish ecclesiastical authorities, built the town's second concrete church located approximately one kilometer away from the ruins of the first one. The church stands to this day; although it underwent several repairs and renovations on account of damage wrought by the forces of nature and man-made events. In 1843, Franciscan missionaries took over the parish and managed it until 1896 when they were forced to abandon it due to the revolution. A native clergy took over thereafter.
During the Spanish regime, Maasin evolved and became an organized municipality. It became a busy seaport which maintained trading with nearby islands of Cebu, Bohol, and Mindanao. A historical proof of this account is a document that depicts a record of "gobernacillos" in this municipality in 1880 through 1894. By virtue of the Maura Code passed by the Spanish Cortez, the first chosen local executive was changed from Gobernadorcillo to "Capitan Municipal". The last gobernadorcillo was Alejo Alcantara who served from 1892 to 1894, followed by Capitanes Municipal Julio Raagas (1894-1896) and Flaviano Aguilar (1897-1898).
The short-lived Philippine revolution against Spain brough about a change in the local government. During the early part of 1898, General Lukban came to Maasin to install the municipal government under the short-lived Philippine Republic. Even before the fall of the Spaniards to the Americans on August 13, 1898, there had already been established in Maasin a Court of First Instance; the office of "Promoter Fiscal" (equivalent to the Provincial Fiscal); and, the office of "Administrador de Hacienda" (equivalent to Provincial Treasurer). With the change of sovereign power, the positions were abolished but the Fiscal's which continued to serve cases from distant towns. However, due to the problems emanating from transportation availability for the Tacloban-Maasin span, and the intricate management of governmental affairs in Tacloban, several prominent leaders of the west coast of Leyte began proposing bills that entail the division of the island of Leyte into two distinct provinces.
In 1919, Representative Ciriaco K. Kangleon presented the first bill but lost in the Senate by one vote.
In 1922, Tomas Oppus renewed the move with presentation of House Bill No. 254 which became Act No. 3117. Unfortunately, the Act did not take effect because it was not proclaimed by the Governor-General.
The arrival of the Americans at the beginning of the 20th century and the suppression of all resistance to the American rule stopped all dreams of Philippine independence. However, the epoch-making announcement of President McKinley that the Philippines was not theirs to exploit but to train in the art of self-government and independence brough about new hope for the Filipinos. True to their word, the Americans instituted in this country their democratic institutions. Maasin was one of the beneficiaries of this enlightened American policy. Schools were established; businesses began to uprise and prosper; and, Maasin became the most progressive town in southwestern Leyte (and still is). Maasin was enjoying the blessings of democracy up until the eruption of World War II.
On June 3, 1942, the Japanese occupied Maasin and immediately instituted Martial Law. Many townspeople realized that their immediate task was to live and escape the abuses, atrocities, and murderous acts of the Japanese soldiers. They took refuge at the mountains and hills where they lived on the natural provisions of Mother Nature. Many brave ones, including Colonel Ruperto Kangleon, Alfonso Cobile and others, fought the Japanese invaders making the record of the Maasin guerillas one glorious chapter in Maasin history.
Maasin resumed its path to prosperity when the Americans returned in late 1944. It became, once again, a bustling seacoast town trading with the nearby islands of Cebu, Bohol, and Mindanao. Through the initiatives of its leaders, Maasin progressively continued to move forward in its role as the center of commerce and industry in Southern Leyte.
In 1953, Francisco M. Pajao won the re-presentation of the issue that entails the division of the island of Leyte but could not do anything else to complete the move. Hence, Senator Ruperto K. Kangleon, younger brother of Ciriaco K. Kangleon, presented and passed the move under Senate Bill No. 2140. The House of Representatives carpeted the Bill.
Then in 1957, Congressman Nicanor Espina Yniguez, Jr. filed the House Bill that changed the move's original designation as Western Leyte of Occidental Leyte to "Southern Leyte". At 10:00 AM on Firday, May 22, 1959, President Carlos P. Garcia signed the Bill into law as Republic Act No. 2227. Witnesses to the signing, among others, were Congressman Yniguez, Mayor Alfredo K. Bantug of Maasin, Attorney Manuel Enage, Sr., Erlinda Capili, and Attorney Floro Kangleon.
On July 1, 1960, Southern Leyte was officially inaugurated as a province with municipalities including Maasin (being the capital town and seat of the provincial government), Malitbog, Bontoc, Sogod, Libagon, Pintuyan, San Francisco, St. Bernanrd, Cabalian (now San Juan), Anahawan, Hinundayan, Hinunangan, and Silago. Three more municipalities were subsequently created, namely, San Ricardo (from Pintuyan), Tomas Oppus (from Malitbog), and Limasawa (from Padre Burgos).
Maasin continued to progressively prosper for decades. On April 8, 1998, Congressman Aniceto G. Saludo, Jr. filed a move under House Bill No. 7201 to convert the municipality of Maasin into a component city of the province of Southern Leyte, thus becoming Maasin City.
First mass in Limasawa?
ReplyDeleteThe word "Limasaua" first came into being in the book of Jesuit chronicler [[Fr. Francisco Combés]], ''Historia de las Islas de Mindanao, Iolo, y sus adyacentes''...Madrid: Herederos de Pablo de Val, 1667.
The occasion for inventing the word pertains to an incident in the voyage of Armada de Molucca, the fleet under Captain-General Ferdinand Magellan, in Philippine waters when the fleet was anchored at the island-port named Mazaua. At the time Combés wrote his 3-paragraph story of Magellan's sojourn at Surigao Strait he had no access to authentic sources, none of the eyewitness accounts with references to Mazaua had been published. All these were published much more than a century latter, the last one by Martín de Ayamonte saw print only 266 years after. Here are the dates of publication of the eyewitness accounts: [[Antonio Pigafetta]],1800; [[The Genoese Pilot]], 1826; [[Francisco Albo]], 1837; [[Ginés de Mafra]], 1920; [[Martín de Ayamonte]],1933. This fact would impact on the version by Combés of an incident the real story of which he did not know. The repercussions of his distorted story reverberates to this day in the 21st century four centuries after Combés had written his thin story.
Indeed, his invented word, "Limasaua", is viewed ironically diametrically opposite of what he had intended it to mean. It's only now that his true meaning is being given critical analysis. Because of Combés's limited and distorted view of the episode--which is hardly understood by historians and historiographers at work on this incident--his invention is seen as pointing to Mazaua, the real port, which in fact Combés's "Limasaua" sought to negate.
"Limasaua" is not found in any of the primary or secondary accounts of the circumnavigation voyage of [[Ferdinand Magellan]]. It is not found in the languages of the area encompassed by the story of Magellan's sojourn in [[Philippine waters]], e.g., Cebuano, Waray Waray, Butuanon, Tausug, Surigaonon, Manobo, etc. For that matter, none of the over 100 languages of the Philippines has that word. It's a pure invention.
The word is a combination of the prefix "Li" which has no linguistic origen in any Philippine language and "mazawa" which could only have come from the Spanish chronicler Antonio de Herrera, one of three sources of Combés. His two other sources were [[Giovanni Battista Ramusio]] and [[Fr. Francisco Colín, S.J.]], whose name for the same southern Leyte isle pointed to by Combés was "[[Dimasaua]]," another neologism or invention. "[[Dimasaua]]" is made up of the Bisaya prefix "di" meaning "not" and "masawa" the placename given by [[Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas]] for the island-port where Magellan's fleet anchored from March 28 to April 4, 1521. "[[Dimasaua]]" expressly signifies the island it points to is not where an Easter mass was held by Magellan, his men, and the Mazawans.
The reason Combés did not adopt Colín's "Dimasaua" is because his story does not contain any reference to an Easter mass happening on March 31, 1521. So his name does not negate a non-existing mass.
Both Combés and Colín wrote that Magellan's fleet anchored at Butuan, adopting the story of the Renaissance travel writer [[Giovanni Battista Ramusio]]. Ramusio's work was a hopelessly garbled Italian translation of the eyewitness account of Magellan's voyage based on the text of the Colines
edition. The Colines edition is a French translation by [[Jacopo Fabri]], in reality [[Jacques Lefevre]]. This was printed at Paris anonymously for Simon de Colines with the title ''Le voyage et navigation faict par les Espaignolz es Isles de Mollucques'', and is believed to have seen print sometime between 1526 and 1536. The Italian translation of the Colines was published ''anonymously'' in 1536 probably in Venice? and by N. Zoppini? Its title was ''Il viaggio fatto da gli Spagniuoli a torno a'l mondo''.
This translation came out ''anonymously'' as "Viaggio attorno il mondo scritto per M. Antonio Pigafetta...tradotto di lingua francese nella Italiana" in the 1550 edition of ''Primo Volume delle Navigationi et Viaggi...Venetia, gli heredi di Luc' Antonio Giunti, 1550''. It appeared again ''anonymously'' in the 1554 edition of Vol. I. Only in the 1563 edition was the authorship by Gian Battista Ramusio asserted and printed. Volume I was further republished in 1588, 1606 and 1613. Volume I was translated into French in 1556 and published in two volumes at Lyons.
There are clearly differences in the editions of Volume I. Colín's version follows an edition that is represented by the English translation by [[Richard Eden]]. On the other hand, Combés' follows an edition represented by the English translation by [[Samuel Purchas]]. Eden's talks of an Easter mass, Purchas' does not mention any.
Here is the English translation by Fr. Miguel Bernad, S.J. of Combés' story of Magellan's sojourn:
''"The first time that the royal standards of the Faith were seen to fly in this island [of Mindanao] was when the Archipelago was first discovered by the Admiral Alonso de Magallanes. He followed a new and difficult route [across the Pacific], entering by the Strait of Siargao, formed by that island and that of Leyte, and landing at the island of Limasaua which is at the entrance of that Strait. Amazed by the novelty and strangeness of the [Spanish] nation and the ships, the barbarians of that island welcomed them and gave them good refreshments.
''"While at Limasaua, enjoying rest and good treatment, they heard of the River of Butuan, whose chieftain was more powerful. His reputation attracted our men thither to see for themselves or be disillusioned, their curiosity sharpened by the fact that the place was nearby. The barbarian [chief] lived up to our men's expectations, providing them with the food they needed...Magellan contented himself with having them do reverence to the cross which is erected upon a hillock as a sign to future generations of their alliance...The solemnity with which the cross was erected and the deep piety shown by the Spaniards, and by the natives following the example of the Spaniards, engendered great respect for the cross.
"Not finding in Butuan the facilities required by the ships, they returned to Limasaua to seek further advice in planning their future route. The Prince of Limasaua told them of the three most powerful nations among the Pintados [Visayans], namely those of Caraga, Samar, and Zebu. The nearness of Zebu, the facilities of its port, and the more developed social structure (being more monarchical) aroused everyone's desire to go thither. Thus, guided by the chief of Limasaua, passing between Bool and Leyte and close to the Camotes Islands, they entered the harbor of Cebu by the Mandawe entrance on the 7th of April 1521, having departed from Limasaua on the first day of that month."
Translation by Fr. Miguel Bernad, S.J., "Butuan or Limasawa?" in: ''Kinaadman'', Vol. III, 1981, pages 4-5.
Is there any mention of a mass in that story?
Vicente Calibo de Jesus
ginesdemafra@gmail.com