of Magellan, Zamal island, and the Golden Fleece

(This is in continuation with the previous blog, click here)

On the 16th of March, 1521, the Portugese explorer Ferdinand Magellan and his fleet of Spanish vessels finally reached the fabled island of Zamal in Mindanao of the Maharlikhan lands after 10 days of uneventful trip from the place he dubbed as Ladrones islands (Guam). Had the fleet sailed to Samar as conventionaly believed, the deep and treacherous currents of the Philippine Trench that they must traverse would surely twist and churn the wooden galleons making its harrowing crossing definitely far from uneventful, if the fleet dared that which, contrary to what mainstream history may had misled mainstream society to believe far too long, it less likely didn’t.

As the silhouette of the land of their destiny unfolded before them, the crew that had traveled halfway across the World to reach the place felt both excitement and foreboding, for these mysterious lands where lived the Maharlikhans, the Free Peoples, exuded both the enchanting, the danger and adventures, the promise of fabulous wealth that the ancients had since known as the Isles of Gold, and of myths and legends recounted through generations with celebrated voyage of ancient heroes of renown.

from http://developmentcatalyst.blogspot.com 

Magellan had deemed it prudent not to immediately dock in Zamal, for who among them knew of what fate awaited their place in history beyond those enigmatic shores and its ancient dwellers. Instead, he commanded to anchor overnight in the nearby island of Talikod. The island was dearth of water for neither rivers or creeks could be found, but like blessing poured from heaven would they discover two springs with the freshest, limestone filtered water springing forth its life nourishment even to this present day. As Pigafetta wrote hundreds of years ago, Magellan and his crew celebrated such blessing that greeted them and thus named it as the “Watering Place of good signs.” It was on this island that Pigafetta first reported sighting of the precious metal that they had traveled for thousands of leagues for: gold.

Two days after the fleet had docked, the native inhabitants on their bancas from nearby Zamal sought to interact with the pale-skinned visitors and their large wooden ships. Pigafetta mentioned how one of the inhabitants expressed “demonstrations of being very joyous at our arrival,”  while five of the “most showy” of the folks remained to interact with them. Indeed, the elaborately dressed original "Habirus" from the mainland, whom a historian once referred as the “most handsomely dressed” among tribes with their "habi" (weaving), had reasons to be very joyful.

Above the yonder mountain ranges of the mainland, the Habiru or Hebrew Tribe (later known as Bagobos after the Illuminati infiltrated colonizers in its divide and conquer strategy scattered instead into more than 100 tribes to relegate our ancestors from Indigenous to "indigent"), inhabitants that lived along the foothills and mountain ranges of the grand ancient peak, Mt. Apo that Pigafetta described as a “high land,” had their watchtower in Catigan that overlooked the vast Davao Gulf; vigilant village watchers must had seen the strange large ships that sought anchor in Talikod island near Samal, and so they traveled down to Davoh and crossed towards the island with their Sama brethrens to meet the visitors. Magellan, finding the natives to be gracious and reasonable, offered gifts and in return his crew were given provisions as figs a foot long (bananas), umai (rice), the highly versatile coconut that the locals called cochi from where sourced sweet water, oil, meat, vinegar, and of course wine.

from http://isabellesofia.wordpress.com/tag/filipino-tribes/

Long had the ancient Bagobo / Habiru tribe waited through the ages with the prophecy of their ancestors who spoke of offsprings of the very first children, their long separated brethren that traveled to faraway lands conceived from their foreparents, Humanity’s first man and woman, Toglai ang Toglibon, who shall one day return. That eventful day had come, the offsprings had finally reached the Maharlikan lands. The prophecy of their ancestors was finally fulfilled, and they were very joyous indeed (albeit the offsprings wearing paler skin). 

Eventually, Pigafetta was told of the small island adjacent of Samal where they first sought to land, presently known as Talikod island, by its ancient heavy set name, Humunu. As old as it sounded, the word may had been a remnant language of an extinct, unusual race that once lived in nearby Samal island and wrought havoc among the mainland inhabitants, and even of ancient heroes of yore from faraway lands lost in their voyage thousands of years ago. This mysterious, long extinct tribe was known as the Dinagat; they were the ancient race of giants of whose skeletal remains have even been discreetly dug up and witnessed by not a few people in modern times, their first hand testimonies attest that indeed such entities had once existed.

Pigafetta by then had amassed further knowledge of the scenic geographical vicinity of the Davao Gulf. He later found out that the Samal he initially saw was “not large,” hence it dawned that it was indeed an island surrounded by the “circumjacent islands” of Davao Gulf. The natives also referred to the island as Zuluam, attesting the influence of the Sultanate of Sulu on this side of Mindanao by the 16th Century. By this description of Pigafetta the mainstream position of Samar where Magellan allegedly landed should further be challenged for unlike Samal island, Samar was definitely not a separate but rather an integral part of one of Visayas’ largest islands, hence Pigafetta could never describe the latter as such for it will contradict his statement being “not large,” which de facto CORPORATE mainstream history had erred all along.

from http://samaloutrigger.lakbayjuan.com

Such error committed had misled generations of Humanity and reduced de facto CORPORATE mainstream history to misdirected position, particularly on the argument that after Samar, Magellan performed the first mass in Limasawa island. It was in 1667 that an alleged Jesuit “historian,” Francisco Combes, may had turned out the culprit. Neither in any earlier documents before Combes would there be heard the name Limasawa. In fact ,it was another Jesuit priest, Fr. Francisco Colins who coined the word in Visayan as he pointed to an island as “Dili Masaua” meaning NOT Masaua (the real Mazzaua was in Butuan, still in Mindanao). Unfortunately the term was misinterpreted by Manila-centric, non-Visayan speaking “historians,” timid to not even scrutinize its veracity  and so stuck unchallenged by prevailing mediocrity in mainstream with warped version established as historical “fact.” As if such twisted contribution were not enough, Combes neither mentioned of any mass held and, despite how Pigafetta otherwise admirably described the Zamal natives to be “with very good manners and gracefulness,”  the contemptible Combes branded them as “barbarians” instead. Worsened still by mediocre mindsets, no considerable figure dared to even challenge the unceremonious and inaccurate description of our noble ancestors by an incompetent Spaniard for nearly 400 years.

A few days ago this blogger encountered an acquaintance holding position as  president of senior citizens in his neighborhood, and informed of a priceless knowledge. During the early 90’s an old man from an Indigenous tribe whom he befriended revealed to him of a marker in Talikod island since the Spanish era. Could this be the certain marker that etched the place where Magellan may had landed? How could the ancient knowledge of this old man and his people be unceremoniously ignored by mainstream academe?  For mainstream historical institutions in this country that deliberately ignored the ancient knowledge of Indigenous Peoples especially in Mindanao, such mediocre, unwitting gestures are deserving of contempt.

from http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/451195/doj-readying-cases-vs-owners-of-structures-along-metro-manila-waterways

And so by misdeeds of irresponsiblity and warped sense of history the implications even through the present saw this country reduced with dysfunctional society recently beset with political corruption of unprecedentend level with self-serving politicians voted by an electorate reeking in mediocrity, its history lessons relegated to superficial colonial mentality and ignorance even to its otherwise rich pre-colonial history, its sense of ethics and values eroded by moralistic hypocrisy, a populace maleducated, a system even manifesting the unjust, blasphemous gap between extremely rich and extremely poor with the former behaving like crass necolonialists over their own fellow countrymen worse than foreign counterparts, a dilemma manifesting in a country that sinned for unwittingly disregarding the sense of historical foundation of its ancestors, and instead timidly aped misaligned foreign dictates.   

More than two decades since Magellan’s fleet landed in the island of Humunu near Zamal, the otherwise blessed, enchanting lands would then been christened by the Spanish commander Villalobos as Las Islas Filipinas eventually to be known as Philippines, in endearment to the Spanish empire’s crown Prince, Philip II. It should be noted that Philip II, then as child prince was the direct descendant of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, and the founder of the Order of the Golden Fleece. The members of this elite Order included illustrious, select figures of European knights, royalties and eventually in the present with kings even from distant lands, which the King of Thailand was also a member of.

from http://www.theoi.com/Ther/KriosKhrysomallos.html

Indeed Magellan knew his destination having been tasked by the Monarchy of Spain to accomplish the daunting feat of reaching the very edge of the known World on uncharted waters, as if reminiscing back the travails of ancient heroes of Western civilization to exotic lands at the edge of the Earth, etched in collective memory for thousands of years with the likes of Jason and the Argonauts and their quest for the Golden Fleece (they were said to have explored continental Asia on their next expedition), of Odysseus and his fleet of ships from the Trojan war lost in voyage, the adventures even of encounters with a cyclops giant on an enigmatic island who guarded the Golden Fleece; the long years of their journey had dragged them farther beyond the edges of unknown worlds and into the enchanting places, and most likely to the isles of Maharlikhan lands.

By the accounts of ancient Greek legends the Golden Fleece could be traced back for thousands of years to the classic golden age where magic and enchantment were as real as breathed air, where gods once roamed down to the world of mortals and played with their fleeting lives as children would with toys, and where giants once wreaked havoc on frail humans.

These ancient foreign travelers may had once established here and brought fame to the Maharlikha lands even during the time of Solomon and his famous gold mines of Ophir located possibly north of Mindanao in the ancient Kingdom of Butuan, of whose glitter graced the temple of Jerusalem. Yet, the offsprings of these ancient seafaring peoples from distant lands may still had existed to this very day, its sprinkling of Hebrew, Greek, Etruscan words still surviving and spoken by the enigmatic Eskaya tribe of Bohol, nearby across in Visayas region of the Maharlikan lands.

photo by CORBIS

In the ancient land of Chryse, the Isles of Gold as the Greeks had known for thousands of years, there existed an island very rich in history, mystery and treasures that its legendary inhabitants were said to be so proliferously blessed with gold such that they decorated their houses with it, of a fearsome ancient giant race that once roamed on its hills and shores and tasked by the gods to guard the elusive Golden Fleece, of golden secrets known only from among the privileged few that had captivated monarchs, knights, and even civilizations for millennia of years. The island was then known as Zamal, for no other place in the ancient World could attest of such fame and profoundly rich history, wealth and heritage as this island itself, in the land of the Maharlikhans.

It was in the ancient, rich, enchanting island of Samal in Mindanao in the Kingdom of Maharlikhans that Magellan knew where he shall go.

Had Magellan first seen Zamal, Mindanao on March 16, 1521?!

This is a continuation of the first blog that, with the advent of the information Age, will further challenge the conventionality of mainstream history that may had misled and kept in the dark generations and partly cause the lack of foundation, a dysfunctional state this country seemed to be manifesting, far too long.

Mainstream history had always taught that on 16^th March, 1521 Ferdinand Magellan first landed in Samar in the Maharlikan lands eventually known as Philippines. This will be contested.  In the first place it would be highly improbable for Magellan’s Fleet to had landed in Samar in Eastern Visayas as the wooden galleons before reaching the island, would had to hurdle the treacherous waters of the Philippine Trench, so deep that the waters continually twisted and churned due to its ocean currents (deeper than Mt. Everest), virtually rendering any 16^th Century wooden ship less likely to survive the treacherous waves wrought by its depth.

Yet, Magellan’s voyage of ten days from the Ladrones Islands i.e. Guam to the island of “Zamal” was so peacefully uneventful that it least likely encountered the twisting currents of the Philippine Deep. Even the ocean Magellan had named as “Pacifico” due to the relative calmness of the waters. The said “Zamal” island that Pigafetta described could not be Samar in Eastern Visayas that had to be traversed from the deepest ocean trench and its treacherous currents, but on tranquil seas towards Samal island in Davao Gulf, Mindanao.

Pigafetta’s description of the vicinities of Zamal so eerily described exactly as the Davao Gulf area would be witnessed, replete with the nearby island (present day Talikod island) with its refreshing spring, a visible highland (Mt. Apo), and surrounded with circumjacent islands (Davao Gulf).

courtesy of RandyHi.com

Even the then uninhabited nearby island beside Zamal that Magellan’s fleet docked fitted accurately with Pigafetta’s description, for gratefully they found springs of very fresh water on the island and thus called it the “Watering Place of Good Signs”. In nearby Talikod island, water was a scarce resource for its lack of rivers and creeks except for the spring of fine water, gushing forth even to this day and presently located in the modern town proper.

Disregarding the mediocre mainstream belief that Magellan’s wooden super-galleons miraculously survived after crossing the deep and treacherous currents of the Philippine Trench as easily as his crew eating cochi nuts and drinking tuba with the natives; Magellan’s galleon fleet were, in a more realistic scenario, admirably swift as to be able to traverse from Guam to Samal Island in Mindanao for mere 10 days. It would not be surprising afterwards then, owing to the favourable windy characteristic of the area, that the fleet enabled to travel from Samal of Davao Gulf, to travel along the Eastern edges of Mindanao island with present day Davao Oriental, Surigao del Sur, del Norte and on towards the tip of present day Surigao City- in just a single day.

Hence originating from Davao Gulf, Pigafetta dutifully recorded sightings of the four islands.  Had Pigafetta’s fellow crew travelled from Samar and not Samal, the islands were a no-show. And so in a single day, from the tip of Surigao the fleet proceeded “west and southwest” not to Limasawa, but towards Masao, Butuan and still in Mindanao. Masao centuries ago would had been formed as an “islet” that not unusually accumulated especially along the wide river deltas as it approached the seas, and Butuan River was not an exception. Masao then was once an islet that formed from the delta of the mighty Butuan River.

Speaking of Limasawa, yet another ridiculous twist of blunder centuries in scale seemed to had been played upon this country’s history. Upon analyzing the preposterousness of a faraway island once thought of as Pigafetta’s Mazzaua, someone must had exclaimed in vernacular, “Dili Masaua!” (not Masaua!). As mediocre as picking an island as well as picking vernacular words, mainstream  historians therefore sang in unison, out of tune definitely, and thus declared the misrepresented island officially as, er, Limasawa. And the rest was bungled history.

Preposterous indeed, and anybody inquisitive enough may be excused for the initial hysterics. For how could the king brothers Rajah Siagu and Rajah Kulambu from the kingdoms of Masao and Butuan, and Caraga, went on regular leisure hunting trips from the Mindanao kingdoms to the alleged faraway Limasawa island but to ride some 16^th Century high speed ferry, not to mention Pigafetta and Magellan’s crew regularly traversing from the island to the Rajah’s kingdom, unless on ancient speed boats. What epic bungees.

Furthermore, the names assigned to the islands by who knows who that surrounded “Limasawa” in Samar seemed to sound like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Unfit, unfortunately. There were the islands of Homonhon, Dinagat, Sarangani. However, when placed in the context of Samal Island these names would immediately align and make sense like a seafarer’s compass would to the North pole.

As the native inhabitants were appropriately described, Pigafetta specifically mentioned of already civilized natives, respectful and hospitable, with “very good manners and gracefulness,” and with some of the “more showy,” elaborately dressed as well. The inhabitants of Samal Island were a very ancient race, so ancient that their olden history had recorded the existence of giants called the DINAGAT whose skeletal remains had been discreetly found even to this day (for more information on the Samal giants refer to links here and here).

The other ancient name of Samal Island was PU, because accordingly the earliest tribes (Maharlikhan) prior to its diaspora or scattering to the various corners of the World, encountered Samal as the very first island, or “pulo” that they had seen. This further vindicated the belief of the Bagobo Peoples in the nearby Davao mainland, which narrated that the source of all tribes of the World originated from Cibolan in the foothills of the Grand Old Man, Mt. Apo (link here).  From the creation myth of the Bagobo Tribe the first man and woman Toglai and Toglibon bore their very first children who eventually separated and scattered throughout the World. It was then prophesied that in the distant future the offsprings of these separated children shall return back to their land of origin, to the land of the Maharlikhas. It needed also to be mentioned that the Bagobo’s of mainland Davao were famous for their elaborate costumes that a foreign explorer once referred to them as “the most handsomely dressed” among tribes, and such impression was similarly witnessed by Pigafetta.

(By further resarch, the ancient Egyptians preserved in hieroglyph that portrayed the ancient "Habirus" with intricate weavings, known locally as "habi.") 

By the time of Magellan’s arrival the island of Samal would considerably be populated by then as now, for on the other island Samar it was otherwise sparsely populated even today that made the possibility of his galleon fleet’s first landing there ludicrous still.

The Sama people were accustomed to hospitable interaction as the fame of the ancient island with its rich history that dated even since the ancient era of giants then known as the Dinagat, and its cosmopolitan culture attested of a place already renowned in this part of the ancient World, for even Magellan knew of its mystery, so spectacular and fantastic as it turned out to be known only by elite members of European knights and monarchy and whose fame may had been dated since the legendary heroic journeys of ancient Greeks, which this blogger will soon discuss.

This writer also had the privilege to hear from the very words uttered by the governor of the country’s Indigenous Tribes, in an air of mysterious, metaphysical phenomenon that mirrored a living culture spanning thousands of years, of 5 languages that he claimed to speak. With these languages he had amazing and profound communication with the Tibetans, with Muslims who could understand the Aramaic language of Mohammed, and the more mysterious of tongue I had heard, the ancient language of the giant race. From what this writer recalled the intonations of this ancient language somewhat produced characteristic sounds of something deep, guttural, heavy. Pigafetta mentioned of the island beside Samal as “Humunu,” and eventually, HOMONHON. Could this deep, heavily accented word be remnant of the ancient language of the Dinagats of Samal, the giant race?

Pigafetta also narrated about the interesting reaction, not to mention the generous hospitality of the natives upon their encounter “with demonstrations of being very joyous with our arrival”. The inhabitants of Zamal indeed had reasons to be very joyous, for as the prophecy of the Bagobo elders foretold that the children of their once separated brethren would soon return, the offsprings, paler in skin, had now arrived.  The prophecy was finally fulfilled.

It comes as a boggling mystery why mainstream history would deliberately divert the real places that occurred in history.  As the cliché goes, histories are written by victors.  But what if the real events that occurred did not necessarily follow the tale of the “victors”, but actually led instead to its humiliation?

By these accounts, rewritten, the mystery would then unfold. And reveal.

Magellan, on a specific mission in search of the “isles of gold” as tasked by the Spanish royalty, ultimately found the fabled “Zamal” island of whose legends enthralled since the ancient Greeks, ultimately found on the edge of the once unknown Pacific seas, in the presently known Davao Gulf, in Mindanao of the Maharlika lands. From Samal island he sailed to Zugbu, eventually to Mactan and encountered formidable Maharlikan warriors, leading them the son of Rajah Luisong Tagean of whose name Luzon island was christened. Like ancient heroes in a tragic tale, with the Maharlikan Rajah Lapulapu and his warriors, Ferdinand Magellan ultimately met his fate.

The Spanish Empire in its quest of subduing and colonizing foreign lands and in particular the legendary isles profuse with gold, despite the tragic loss of the great explorer, deemed it valuable to send a second fleet known as the Loaisa Expedition. Tracing still the original route of Magellan the next Spanish fleet arrived not in Sangir, Indonesia nor Sarangani, Leyte but expectedly back to Davao Gulf, this time in SARANGANI island, Mindanao.

The ancient Sarangani natives, with its rich history dated as old as 3000 years, already sensed the ulterior motive of the pale skinned foreigners with such hearts borne from greed and covetousness that deemed more alien than brethren. The Sarangani inhabitants pretended to welcome the intruders as their Samal brethren otherwise genuinely did. This time however, from behind the offerings of vials and drinks, bladed weapons stealthily hidden behind the warriors’ backs awaited the intruders. By the time the bloody rampage ended, only four survivors were left, found floating in the seas by a passing galleon of the rival Portuguese, and promptly arrested.

Magellan had crossed the unknown Pacific seas as commissioned by the Spanish royalty in the grand quest to find the fabled islands of gold. He eventually discovered the illustrious Samal island in Davao Gulf. But his defeat borne from arrogance at underestimating the Maharlikan Rajah Lapulapu and his determined men, ultimately proved fatal and dealt a slap to Western imperial face. The second expedition with a crew that betrayed covetousness travelled on the same route and found itself again in Davao Gulf, this time in Sarangani island, where a second costly defeat in the hands of Sarangani Maharlikans proved too much for the Castillan imperial ego to bear. It seemed the true history of the land had to be twisted and re-written, not due to victory, but humiliation.

And so there would be need to clamour for the rightful quest to seek for what had indeed transpired, for in its light will surely reveal answers to long held questions, and in finding the real treasures of Truth long hidden, victory finally prevails.



(Continuation of the topic in:
of Magellan, Zamal Island, and the Golden Fleece)