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Located at the Northeastern part of Agusan Valley sprawling accross the Agusan River is BUTUAN City, known for its colorful history and culture. Butuan is believed to have originated from the sour fruit "Batuan". Others opined, it came from a certain "Datu Buntuan", a chieftain who once ruled Butuan. Scholars believed, it came from the word "But-an", which means a person whoa has a sound and discerning position. Whichever theories appear credible depends on the kind of people residing in Butuan, for whatever is said about them, Butuan continues to live on.

Butuan's history, culture, arts and people date back to the 4th century as showcased in museums makes Butuan an exciting source of cultural artifacts in Mindanao.

As early as the 10th century, according to the chinese song shi (history), people from Butuan have already established trading relations with the kingdom of Champa which is now South Vietnam.

By the 11th century, Butuan was the center of Trade and commerce in the Philippines. The best evidence to prove this fact is the discovery of 9 balanghays (The Butuan Boat) and other archaeological finds in the vicinities of Butuan City, particularly in Ambangan, Libertad near the old El Rio de BUTUAN and MASAO River.

Welcome to a city that has seen over 1,682 years of recorded history!
Here, the present nurtures the past and vice versa. While the future waits promisingly in the wings.

Butuan Beckons - COME!!!

FAST FACTS:

LOCATION :Located at the Northeastern part of Mindanao and the Regional Capital of Caraga Region 13.
AREA : 81,728 hectares.
POPULATION : 297,279 ; Estimated Daytime Population 350,000
DIALECT : Multi-lingual predominantly Butuanon, Cebuano and English.
CLIMATE : Dry Season - March to September
Wet Season - October to February
TEMPERATURE : 66F Minimum / 85F Maximum lighweight clothing is recommended.
BUSINESS HOURS : Banking - Monday to Friday: 9am to 3pm with no noon break.
Shops - open daily from 8am to 7pm
Offices - Monday to Friday from 8am to 5pm.



Butuan City is the seat of government and serves as the trading center of the region. It's strategic location makes it the natural gateway to the different parts of the country. It is home of the "Balanghais" or "Butuan Boats", the famous pre-historic native boat in Southeast asia.

The Place is one hour and 45 minutes from Manila and 55 minutes ride from Cebu by plane.

By sea, the city is 36 hours and 12 hours from Manila and Cebu respectively.

Butuan City is strategically located at the center of the Caraga Administrative Region. This makes the City the natural growth center of the area and affirms its role as an industrial center in agri-aqua-forestry processing of the Agusan River Basin.

With this vision, officials of the Butuan City Government are encouraging preffered investments into this fast-growing center of the Northeastern Mindanao Region.

Investors who decide to do business in Butuan City, by either putting-up a new enterprise, expanding or diversifying existing business, can now expect to enjoy local Tax Holiday Incentives or Tax Exemption Priviledges, under SP Ordinance 2075-96. BUTUAN INVESTMENT and TAX HOLIDAYS (http://www.geocities.com/ton21987/spordinance.htm)

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Beautiful and enticing. Thanks boybleauXx.

great gics boybleauxx!

http://home.iae.nl/users/piepenbr/butuan/butuan16.jpg

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i was in butuan 2 decades ago for some exhibit sponsored by edcads with friends. lake mainit is beautiful, magical.

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Butuan is served daily by both Philippine Airlines (Manila-Butuan-Manila).
and Cebu Pacific (Manila-Butuan-Manila); (Cebu-Butuan-Cebu) using B737-300 and DC-9 jets respectively.

It is the only city in Northern Mindanao with jet service from Cebu, Mactan Airport thru Cebu Pacific.

when you mention butuan, i always remember the travels i had in northern mindanao. sad thing, the most i wanted to go was the balanghai. how's it these days?

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butuan's city hall is pretty impressive compared with others in mindanao.

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http://us.f2.yahoofs.com/users/41d3d6a3ze9745f46/ca9f/__sr_/cfcb.jpg?ph6_kXDBhDIpg5AX

This is a very cool city hall building. Is it newly constructed?

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Baroto

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Butuan 2nd bridge project site, soon one of Philippines most modern cable stayed steel bridge with one of the world's longest road-span of 13 Kms.

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Butuan Regional Museum has various collections attesting Butuan's phenomenal rise as an economic entreport in the early 1000 AD during the height of the Malayan Sri Vidjaya Empire.

Butuan is the only place in the Philippines mentioned in annals of Chinese history during Sung Dynasty when early traders from Phut-uan paid tribute during their first trade mission to China in 1000 AD.

It houses Balanghay Boats, early modes of water transport during Butuan's trade with Champa (Vietnam), Malaya and other ancient Asiatic kingdoms.

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Butuan has many festivals, May is the best time to visit the city as the month long Balanghai Festival unfolds, feauturing the city's rich cultural and historical heritage.

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LADP (Lower Agusan Development Project).

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31 Kms, Urban Drainage Project

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it seems, posting madness ata si boybleu. hihihihi. sige po, galing galing ng mga pics.

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Newly built North Montilla Blvd. Extension, a six-lane concrete boulevard connecting the CBD to northern barangays.

hi Paul !

thanks for the comments. I hope those lokal pics wont make you even more home sick.

keep in touch!

hi boy, include in my wishlist when i go home, take the philtranco bus from davao to manila, ALONE! hehehe. sort of a safari shoot for my own stock.

hey... some of the photos disappeared...

http://pic15.picturetrail.com/VOL598/4010615/8325506/111624522.jpg

Butuan is served daily by both Philippine Airlines (Manila-Butuan-Manila).
and Cebu Pacific (Manila-Butuan-Manila); (Cebu-Butuan-Cebu) using B737-300 and DC-9 jets respectively.

It is the only city in Northern Mindanao with jet service from Cebu, Mactan Airport thru Cebu Pacific.

do you have any shots of the butuan terminal too ?

http://pic15.picturetrail.com/VOL598/4010615/8325506/111623047.jpg

a perfect shot of the area ! any close-ups of the harbour ? is this the harbour of butuan city proper or what hinterlands does this port support ?

butuan city is my birthplace...thanks for sharing this pictures.

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http://p.vtourist.com/1151239-Hotel_Karaga-Butuan_City.jpg

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http://www.thelandofpromise.com/agusannorte/inland@night-IMG_5323.jpg

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Lake Mainit. One of the Philippines largest lakes is just an hour and half ride from Butuan City .

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This relic which now serves as the icon of Butuan's past maritime glory during early trades with Champa (Vietnam), Malaya (Indonesia) and China.

It was found along the banks of Wawa River after WW 2; and is believed to date back to early 4th to 5th century AD.

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hey boybleuxx, do you have pics of the balanghai?

http://users.bart.nl/users/piepenbr/fotodagboek/foto64-3.jpg

Paul;
Im still looking for a much detailed photo of BalanghaiBoat. This one is encased. But most of them are in the on-site museum in Libertad, Butuan City.

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M.J. Santos Hospital. One of the better equipped hospital in Mindanao; now boasts of new medical imaging technologies such as CT-Scan and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Other local hospital in the region include Butuan Doctors' Hospital which has a Heart Center, Dialysis Center, Pulmonary-Bronchoscopy Center, Eye Center, and a CT- scan.

http://www.msrdc.org/projects/images/bandra_cable_stayed_bridge_set.jpg

A computer-generated image of a cable-stayed type of steel bridge; the type of bridge that is currently being built south of Butuan City. Once completed, this 2nd bridge in Butuan will have the world's longest roadspan of 13 kms connecting it to the present busy Butuan-Cagayan-Iligan hiway and Butuan-Surigao-Davao high ways, and with the city's arterial road system via an elevated 1.5 km viaduct.

http://www.msrdc.org/projects/images/bandra_cable_stayed_bridge_set.jpg

A computer-generated image of a cable-stayed type of steel bridge; the type of bridge that is currently being built south of Butuan City. Once completed, this 2nd bridge in Butuan will have the world's longest roadspan of 13 kms connecting it to the present busy Butuan-Cagayan-Iligan hiway and Butuan-Surigao-Davao high ways, and with the city's arterial road system via an elevated 1.5 km viaduct.

Gorgeous! :eek2:

:eek: As some of you know, im a sucker for cable-stayed bridges! Thats awesome...but i doubt its completion.:(

Grey:

your pessimism is understandable :)

but just an update construction works on the bridge is now in its full swing and is at 35 per cent; while civil works is now full blast on the 13 km road span.

the viaduct that will integrate it to city's road system has likewise been started last year.

Japanese contractors Towa Construction and Nippon Steel Corp are spearheading the construction.

DPWH said the 2nd bridge is expected to be completed ahead of its November 2008 opening schedule.

Another project, the LADP, by another Japanese contractor Kajima Construction Corp, is expected to be completed 2nd quarter next year.

^^ Seriously? Its u/c already? I thought it was just a proposal. We havent gotten any news about this until now. And its really the world's longest roadspan? It really should have gotten more news.

:master: damn.... speechless

also, I'm surprised the govt was able to get this project going....and im more surprised that they were able to get it going without any noise.

Grey;

With media now focussing on the negatives (tends to :) ) and kind of Manila-centric, theres not much noise now except for the booming cranes, girders and earth movers and borers at the site.

the project (just like any big time projects in this country) is foreign funded through the Japanese (ODA) Overseas Development Assistance Fund JBIC-JICA

here is an old photo taken early last year at the river front side with the scaffolding being prepared.
http://pic1.picturetrail.com/VOL1158/4121322/8593373/116578120.jpg

^^ Sweet! Thanks for the info and for the photo. I'd love to know more about this project and its updates...especially because its a Cable Stayed Bridge (and i always wanted the Philippines to have one). Is that crossing busy? Since i could imagine its quite an expensive project, so im just wondering if its worth it.

EDIT: scratch that question...just re-read your earlier post:)

http://www.greatestcities.com/0352pic/681/CP6681.jpg/bustling_and_busy_BUTUAN.jpg

Tricycles, just as they are ubiquitous in any city in the country provides inner city transport in Butuan.

Butuan, being one of the fastest growing medium sized city in Mindanao has fully airconditioned metered taxis plying within the city to its suburbs and city outskirts.

Jeepneys are abundant to the suburbs; while standard buses (aircon and non aircon) connect the city 24 hr round the clock to other major Mindanao cities like Davao and Cagayan de Oro.

Regular buses also connect the city to surounding areas in the Caraga Region.

http://www.msrdc.org/projects/images/bandra_cable_stayed_bridge_set.jpg

A computer-generated image of a cable-stayed type of steel bridge; the type of bridge that is currently being built south of Butuan City. Once completed, this 2nd bridge in Butuan will have the world's longest roadspan of 13 kms connecting it to the present busy Butuan-Cagayan-Iligan hiway and Butuan-Surigao-Davao high ways, and with the city's arterial road system via an elevated 1.5 km viaduct.
great!

dude, i didn't realize Butuan was this nice...

Grey;

you mean the river crossing? there are a number of motorized boats plying the city to its riverine barangays passing along the construction site....or better see it at the land project site.

Do you have a map of the area to show where the bridge spans across? Thanks in advance:)

the provinces are booming, CDO, davao, gensan, butuan-surigao, bacolod, iloilo ,cebu and some parts of luzon... infrastructures are being built everywhere, pero eto ang metro manila na wala nang ginawa kungdi mag rally, mag rally at mag rally, nakaka frustrate!!!

thanks Matteo, hope to expect you visiting Butuan and its environs soon :)

Grey;

I dont have any map as of the moment; will look for it in the net.

the provinces are booming, CDO, davao, gensan, butuan-surigao, bacolod, iloilo ,cebu and some parts of luzon... infrastructures are being built everywhere, pero eto ang metro manila na wala nang ginawa kungdi mag rally, mag rally at mag rally, nakaka frustrate!!!

eazyboy;

yep, its kind of frustrating with Manila's situation. Showcase window pa naman natin ang syiudad na ito.

But I hope things will be better ahead ( I will have to cross my fingers on this) :)

Butuan may not be making much news now, but it will be the city of the future, as the local government, civic and business leaders envision it to be so. (just as in any place and time..there will always be a new Rome) :)

keep in touch

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Nice pics. I've never seen pictures of Butuan. That's a beautiful place. Makabisita nga ng minsan.

butuan's city hall is pretty impressive compared with others in mindanao.

I agree.

Kuyageezer;

thanks kuya. :) May is the best month to visit this dynamic, history filled city as the month-long Balanghai Festivals unfolds.

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http://members.tripod.com/philmuseum/balanghai.jpg

One of the boats unearthed and kept preserved in the Balanghai Site Museum.

During the mid seventies a team of engineers while constructing the city's drainage system suddenly unearthed wooden planks which turned out to be parts of a boat, within the excavation site are other archeological finds such as ceramic glazed Chinese Ming dynasty jars and ethnic jewelries of gold and silver.

Some parts of the boat were sent to Japan for carbon dating and were found to date to as early as 4th to 5th century AD.

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this one taken from one of the pedestrian foot bridges spanning JC Aquino Ave.

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this one taken while dining at Pizza Hut.

Capitol Avenue now hosts some of the city's newer establishments

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this is my job after I finished my prison sentence ( Just Kidding ). :runaway:

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This one of the resto kiosks of Almont Inland Resort and Convention Center

how about Urios school boy? i really appreciate f u can post some pictures of Maon Elementary School.

http://www.millionmiler.com/photo/Butuan_Surigao/Dscf0017_2.JPG

http://www.lakbay.net/destinations/images/butuan4.gif

http://p.vtourist.com/2114112-Almont_Inland_Resort-Butuan_City.jpg

http://www.msrdc.org/projects/images/bandra_cable_stayed_bridge_set.jpg

A computer-generated image of a cable-stayed type of steel bridge; the type of bridge that is currently being built south of Butuan City. Once completed, this 2nd bridge in Butuan will have the world's longest roadspan of 13 kms connecting it to the present busy Butuan-Cagayan-Iligan hiway and Butuan-Surigao-Davao high ways, and with the city's arterial road system via an elevated 1.5 km viaduct.

:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause:

WoW! when is the target opening? :D

http://p.vtourist.com/2114115-Inland_Resort_main_pool-Butuan_City.jpg

rusty:

the target opening will be on November 2008

http://home.planet.nl/~fortgent/Traveling/Philippines/Others/Min_Butuan_tricycle_orange.JPG

South Montilla Blvd. snarls with heavy color coded trike traffic.

Butuan has one of the most efficient intra-urban and intermodal means of land transport. Trikes provide the inner city while jeeps and metered taxis ply the rest of the urban area and the suburbs.

http://www.pinoy-newmexico.com/sitebuilder/images/Butuan-235x365.jpg

For a dose of Butuan history (looooong before the white men named these islands Islas Filipinas), this book, available at Ateneo de Manila University Press provides an in depth discussion of the rise of Butuan (Phu-tuan as its ancient Chinese trading name) as a trading port during the peak of Sri Vidjaya and Madjapahit Empires.

http://www.millionmiler.com/photo/Butuan_Surigao/Dscf0017_2.JPG

downtown mall

http://home.planet.nl/~fortgent/Traveling/Philippines/Others/Min_Butuan_tricycle_orange.JPG

South Montilla Blvd. snarls with heavy color coded trike traffic.

Butuan has one of the most efficient intra-urban and intermodal means of land transport. Trikes provide the inner city while jeeps and metered taxis ply the rest of the urban area and the suburbs.


What...are those things called.....

Is this the newest incarnation of the ever-fun-to-ride tricycle?

Or the love child of the tricycle and the jeepney. hehehe

I've never seen that before.

http://users.bart.nl/users/piepenbr/fotodagboek/foto64-3.jpg

Paul;
Im still looking for a much detailed photo of BalanghaiBoat. This one is encased. But most of them are in the on-site museum in Libertad, Butuan City.

thanks, saw the other one too! was suppose to visit the museum in one of travels passing butuan. but it was getting late so we decided to just go straight to davao.

What...are those things called.....

Is this the newest incarnation of the ever-fun-to-ride tricycle?

Or the love child of the tricycle and the jeepney. hehehe

I've never seen that before.

lol those are tricycles. butuan-surigao has the best looking tricycles imo

:applause:
As I read through the pages, I wasn't expecting to see those pics! Bravo, Blooming Butuan...

BTW, are there malls in Butuan? As far as I know, there's a Gaisano Butuan around...

sinjin:

thanks, yes there's the Gaisano Mall Butuan, a 4 level mall with a food court and 4 cinemas. It hosts several new hip shops and fastfood stores.

Otis Metro, a homegrown mall, though on the underside in the battle, will inaugurate its expansion mall this coming Decemebr. It will feauture a cineplex and new spaces for new and more specialty shops.

Recently a DIY hardware warehouse type shop opened its doors in the city. The Davao-based CITI Hardware opened its doors to Caraga crowd mid this year.

As more land is being developed in the city, more commercial developers are expected to expand their operations in this rapidly urbanizing city in Mindanao.

Booming Business Confidence in Butuan City (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=264799)

http://butuandoctors.com/images/new-building.jpg

Butuan Doctors' Hospital with its latest medical technologies is one of the modern and better equipped health facility in Mindanao today.

Butuan Doctors' Hospital (http://butuandoctors.com/main.php)

http://e-butuan.com/uploads/photos/30.jpg

http://e-butuan.com/uploads/photos/15.jpg

photo courtesy of e-Butuan

sinjin:

thanks, yes there's the Gaisano Mall Butuan, a 4 level mall with a food court and 4 cinemas. It hosts several new hip shops and fastfood stores.

Otis Metro, a homegrown mall, though on the underside in the battle, will inaugurate its expansion mall this coming Decemebr. It will feauture a cineplex and new spaces for new and more specialty shops.

Recently a DIY hardware warehouse type shop opened its doors in the city. The Davao-based CITI Hardware opened its doors to Caraga crowd mid this year.

As more land is being developed in the city, more commercial developers are expected to expand their operations in this rapidly urbanizing city in Mindanao.

Booming Business Confidence in Butuan City (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=264799)

Okay, Thanks for the info!

Indeed, Butuan even has more potential than Davao, IMO

http://www.msrdc.org/projects/images/bandra_cable_stayed_bridge_set.jpg

A computer-generated image of a cable-stayed type of steel bridge; the type of bridge that is currently being built south of Butuan City. Once completed, this 2nd bridge in Butuan will have the world's longest roadspan of 13 kms connecting it to the present busy Butuan-Cagayan-Iligan hiway and Butuan-Surigao-Davao high ways, and with the city's arterial road system via an elevated 1.5 km viaduct.

impressive!!! :applause: This one is for the world records...

soar high butuan.... fy! fly! fly!

impressive!!! :applause: This one is for the world records...
They better not open a casino in Butuan or you'd have people jumping off this bridge. :-O

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/70/Ph_locator_agusan_del_norte_butuan.png

Butuan's land area of 81,278 hectares is a large rectangular area that straddles both sides of the Agusan River. It is bordered by the highlands of Agusan del Sur to the south and Butuan Bay towards the north.

1n 1985 the Local Government ministry (previous DILG) granted the city a highly urbanized status. It is a first class city by DILG standards.

They better not open a casino in Butuan or you'd have people jumping off this bridge. :-O

I just can't get the relation between opening a casino and the bridge. :?:

how about Urios school boy? i really appreciate f u can post some pictures of Maon Elementary School.

http://www.urios.edu.ph/about/hist_pics/uriosoutside.jpg

One of the top Catholic educational institutions in Mindanao, now ranked number 14 among top 20 colleges and universities in the country.

Its College of Law is ranked number 7th among Philippine Law schools.

Soon, another campus will rise in Libertad, Butuan City with soon to construct high school and elementary complex and gymnasium.

I just can't get the relation between opening a casino and the bridge. :?:

if they lose loads of money, they jump off the bridge.

how come the media never mentioned this project.. if not for SCC i would'nt have known its existence. they should have shown this to the entire country so we would all feel proud of ourselves and stop feeding us with news about how chaotic our country has become..

Still no map to show where that bridge crosses?

Grey:

unfortunately I havent found an internet site map of the project. But I am sure the DPWH have lots of them.

Ok, thanks anyways:) What river does it cross?

Ok, thanks anyways:) What river does it cross?

This is the First Magsaysay Bridge (Agusan River, Butuan City)
http://www.greatestcities.com/9660pic/677/CP6677.jpg/Magsaysay_Bridge-BUTUAN.jpg

The Second Magsaysay Bridge's target comletion is Dec. 2008. The project cost is 1.8 billion pesos($M32.9). The bridge aims to reduce the traffic congestion in Butuan City, keep the efficient flow of people and services among growth centers in Mindanao, and to provide essential infrastructure to support the economic growth in the CARAGA Region.

http://home.planet.nl/~fortgent/Traveling/Philippines/Others/Min_Butuan_tricycle_orange.JPG

South Montilla Blvd. snarls with heavy color coded trike traffic.

Butuan has one of the most efficient intra-urban and intermodal means of land transport. Trikes provide the inner city while jeeps and metered taxis ply the rest of the urban area and the suburbs.

parang mga pulang langgam, tapos yung itim nakasama

how come the media never mentioned this project.. if not for SCC i would'nt have known its existence. they should have shown this to the entire country so we would all feel proud of ourselves and stop feeding us with news about how chaotic our country has become..

Coz Philippine Media is only interested in controversial stories. They only want to make money and not help in tha actual progress of the country. Media people in the Philippines are Blood suckers! If they only think that the story will help boost ratings then they will air it. I guess thats why Government Media control is proper to implement when the country is developing. Then let go slowly when the economy is matured enought to handle controversial issues. This way people are already too busy to care about those freaking news coz majority of what they see is progress and not regress.

http://www.msrdc.org/projects/images/bandra_cable_stayed_bridge_set.jpg

A computer-generated image of a cable-stayed type of steel bridge; the type of bridge that is currently being built south of Butuan City. Once completed, this 2nd bridge in Butuan will have the world's longest roadspan of 13 kms connecting it to the present busy Butuan-Cagayan-Iligan hiway and Butuan-Surigao-Davao high ways, and with the city's arterial road system via an elevated 1.5 km viaduct.

what cities/province is this bridge gonna be connected to, end to end. dont laugh, but i thought this bridge would connect visayan to mindanao or vice versa

^^ yeah i agree with you bai!!! i have relatives in other countries and the first question that they would ask is "nya kumusta naman atong gobyerno?" everything that they hear about phil are all negative..

parang mga pulang langgam, tapos yung itim nakasama

e anu yung puti? anay? hehehe :laugh:

^queen na maliit

what cities/province is this bridge gonna be connected to, end to end. dont laugh, but i thought this bridge would connect visayan to mindanao or vice versa

tigidig:

this bridge will cut travel time east to west and vise versa sides of Butuan by by-passing the busy central business district.

the ongoing construction and modernization of Pan Philippine highway along Agusan-Davao section will surely increase inflow of traffic from these interior areas towards the ports of Masao, Butuan and Nasipit, constructing a new bridge will decrease the strain that is causing on the current Magsaysay Bridge which cuts through the heart of the city's CBD.

http://pic13.picturetrail.com/VOL473/4138906/8638500/117469440.jpg

the light green areas show the extent of Butuan's urban sprawl to rurban to purely rural area.

notice the white strip at northwest portion; this is the Bancasi airport runway strip.

@boybleauXx :redx: no image can be seen.

sino ang mayor sa Butuan bai? nandyan pa rin ba ang mga Calo ug Plaza?

http://pic13.picturetrail.com/VOL473/4138906/8638500/117580455.jpg

http://pic13.picturetrail.com/VOL473/4138906/8638500/117580465.jpg

http://pic13.picturetrail.com/VOL473/4138906/8638500/117580473.jpg

http://pic13.picturetrail.com/VOL473/4138906/8638500/117580465.jpg

http://pic13.picturetrail.com/VOL473/4138906/8638500/117580481.jpg

Is that the river the cable stayed bridge crosses?

Grey:

yes Grey. the 2nd bridge will span the same Agusan River at the southern portion of CBD. While the new highway shall stretch from the northwest heading southeast towrds the eastern bank side.

http://pic13.picturetrail.com/VOL473/4138906/8638500/117580473.jpg

these pictures were all taken on board PAL B737 while on a jet holding pattern prior to landing to Butuan's Bancasi Airport.

Grey:

yes Grey. the 2nd bridge will span the same Agusan River at the southern portion of CBD. While the new highway shall stretch from the northwest heading southeast towrds the eastern bank side.

Thats cool. And it looks like its as wide as Pasig River...so that means they can put a cable stayed across Pasig River:D

But i dont how this makes it the world's longest road span? There are many bridges in the world the crosses much bigger areas.

http://pic13.picturetrail.com/VOL473/4138906/8638500/117580481.jpg

I love this pic! looks like a beautiful countryside somewhere in europe lol

^^ I agree...but the sprawl kinda ruins it.

Thats cool. And it looks like its as wide as Pasig River...so that means they can put a cable stayed across Pasig River:D

But i dont how this makes it the world's longest road span? There are many bridges in the world the crosses much bigger areas.
Agusan River, being one of the 3rd major river systems of the country is much wider than Pasig.

It looked small because those photos were all taken at a much higher scale.

Agusan River, being one of the 3rd major river systems of the country is much wider than Pasig.

It looked small because those photos were all taken at a much higher scale.

Alrighty:)

but still, im puzzled to why the bridge would become the world's longest roadspan when there are much longer bridge crossings than that.

http://pic13.picturetrail.com/VOL473/4138906/8638500/117580473.jpg

the roadway that is being built connected to the new bridge will have 13 kilometers road lenght.

http://pic13.picturetrail.com/VOL473/4138906/8638500/117580473.jpg

the roadway that is being built connected to the new bridge will have 13 kilometers road lenght.

so it's not the actual bridge that's the longest? i'm confused...

its not the bridge span. but the road span as what was consistently posted.

Thanks for the clarification, but how does that make it the world's longest? 13km is very short.:D

There are three things I noticed while viewing these series of pictures. There are plenty of logs floating on the river. The river's color reveals a lot of siltation, I am pretty sure, due to denudation of the forest. And there are just too many tricycles. I used to live in a very small town yet there were quite a few tricycles running around the town. People were just complaining because of too much noise specially during the evening time when people are starting to go to sleep.

Butuan is not a small town by the way.

its a medium sized regional highly
urbanized city.

A lot of large cities make provisions to tone down too much noise specially during the evening times. I am presently living at the two biggest cities in the U.S. Queens is a borough of New York and they do have these provisions. Honking horns around hospitals are not tolerated. Jackhammers are not allowed to operate during the evening time. Values of homes literally adjacent to the subways do not command higher prices compared with homes farther away. These are also true of Los Angeles, my second home.

BUTUAN ~ Beackons !

http://pic13.picturetrail.com/VOL473/4138906/8638500/117796318.jpg

BUTUAN ~ The History and Culture

http://pic13.picturetrail.com/VOL473/4138906/8638500/117796216.jpg

BUTUAN ~ City of the Future

http://pic13.picturetrail.com/VOL473/4138906/8638500/117796674.jpg

http://pic13.picturetrail.com/VOL473/4138906/8638500/117796561.jpg

http://pic13.picturetrail.com/VOL473/4138906/8638500/118072575.jpg

BUTUAN ~ DRAGON ECONOMY BY 2010

Butuan, Butuan, Butuan! Hoping to see more developments in this city in the south.

hello sinjin!

here is another project that is being primed for national funding under SPADP (Southern Philippines' Airport Project)

BUTUAN, Bancasi Airport Expansion

http://www.cowi.com/NR/rdonlyres/AE61C9F5-9054-4911-9467-B75B89267E42/0/thirdairportB3.jpg

nice airport. hope itll push through.

Sleep:

the plan is to expand the airport under ADB, TADP or Third Airport Devlopment Project. But was not actively pursued by the previous administration. The airport expansion is now placed under SPADP.

Good for Caraga Region and Mindanao as well. What about the Inland Port? Will it utilize the river? Any updates on Railway project?

Thanks for sharing!

Sleep:

The port is part of an integrated plan to convert Butuan's northern riverine side up to Pagatpatan and Masao into transhipment hub by expanding the present riverine port and building an international grade port and cargo terminal in barangay Masao.

Otis Metro Expansion Mall, now rising in Libertad, Butuan City

Otis Metro Mall, another landmark project of Chan-Uy Realty and Development Corp. is set to open its mall project in Libertad, Butuan City in time for the holiday season. The mall which is the second biggest mall in the city and the region will feauture cinemas and added store spaces for new upcoming shops; and a food court. It will engage Gaisano City Mall in the local battle. The mall has a hypermart and an anchor department store.

http://pic13.picturetrail.com/VOL473/4138906/8638500/118365534.jpg

Butuan execs pushing P7-B Masao dev’t projects


By MIKE U. CRISMUNDO


BUTUAN CITY – The city government here is keen on pushing the R7- billion Masao Development Project that is concentrated on the western side of the city.


"President Arroyo has already given us the green light to look for consultants on this," Mayor Democrito Plaza II said.

The major problem faced by the business community is the lack of seaport facilities in Butuan City.

They have to transport their products 30 kilometers to the Nasipit International Port, thus adding more costs to them.

"The city government is looking into this problem," Plaza told Manila Bulletin.

The Masao Development Project consists of roads, expansion of Masao port and bridges, shipyards, buildings, communication centers and other port and industrial faciltiies.

Masao is only 5 to 7 kilometers away from the heart of the city.

However, Mayor Plaza admitted it would take hard work and patience to achieve this goal.

"The oversight committee, our national, local experts and engineers are already doubly working hard to finish their studies," he stressed.

Currently, the Major Flood Control Cluster 11 and Cotabato Agusan River Basic Development Project under the supervision of Director Philip F. Menez is constructing multi-million drainage and flood system projects along the western side of the city.

Another project is the R1.2-billion 2nd Magsaysay Bridge, which is nearly a kilometer long.

This project can help the business community in transporting their farm and industrial products as well.

Other projects include city gymnassium and Butuan-Bukidnon road.

"These multi-billion projects can benefit Butuanons and provide more employment and income generation," the mayor said.

Butuan execs pushing P7-B Masao dev’t projects (http://www.mb.com.ph/issues/2005/11/07/PROV2005110748501.html)

http://www.bibingka.com/dahon/mystery/silver.gif

The Butuan Silver Strip
by Hector Santos
All rights reserved.

The Butuan area has been a rich source of material from ancient Philippines for both treasure hunters and trained archaeologists. So it was in the mid-seventies when a team from the National Museum of the Philippines excavating a site was told that a strip of metal with some kind of writing had been found by a treasure hunter.

Fortunately, the artifact was already in the hands of Proceso Gonzales, the city engineer of Butuan. He understood the importance of the find and took possession of it.

The metal strip was found inside a wooden coffin by treasure hunters who were looking for ceramic and gold objects that could be sold for high prices to private collectors. According to Dr. Jesus Peralta, similar burials in wooden coffins in the vicinity of Butuan had previously been found to contain human remains with skulls that have been artificially deformed. This practice was apparently limited to Southern Philippines, the beauty standard for such head shapes never finding its way to Luzon.

Ceramics and ornaments were usually placed in the coffins, the ceramic pieces dating from the 14th and 15th centuries. If the metal strip was found within a typical coffin, it would have logically come from the same era.

While the metal piece could have come from foreign shores, the safest and most conservative position one can take is that an artifact belongs in the place where it was found unless it can be proven otherwise.

The letters were cut into the piece of metal with a knife. The difficulty of making curved lines on metal with a knife is apparent in the clumsy shapes of the letters. The strip measures 17.8 x 1.3 cm.

Peralta reports that the late Dr. Boechari of Indonesia identified the script as "similar to a Javanese script that had been in use from the 12th to the 15th century" (late Kavi?).

At this time, the writing has not been convincingly deciphered nor have the letters in the strip been identified. A successful transliteration would not guarantee a decipherment because of the brevity of the sample, though.

A companion piece with similar writing was also reportedly found in the same coffin. However, the owner refused to part with it because he believed it held the key to the location of a treasure hoard. How he hoped to use that piece to locate the treasure without translating the message is not known. Neither do we know why it is that piece and not the one he gave up that holds the secret.

That second piece will play an important role in solving the mystery of the Butuan silver strip.
Additional Reading
Peralta, Jesus T. "The Butuan palaeograph: ethnographic implications of an ancient script," in Archipelago 6:A-55 (1979): 31-33.
Santos, Hector. "Artifacts with writing revisited" in Sulat sa Tansô, 2:5 (June 1995), 1.
-----. "Other pre-Hispanic writing artifacts" in Sulat sa Tansô, 2:2 (February 1995), 1.
-----. "The Butuan Silver Strip" in Sulat sa Tansô, 2:2 (February 1995), 3.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Other Mysterious Philippine Scripts
The Calatagan Pot, a clay pot with writing around its neck.
Errors in Early Calatagan Pot Material, be careful when reading early material.
Calatagan Pot Translations, early attempts to decipher the script.
Butuan Silver Strip Deciphered?, an attempt to decipher the writing using the Eskaya script.
The Butuan Ivory Seal, a seal for making an impression on wax.
The Eskaya Script, script used by a secret society on the island of Bohol.
Back to Mystery Scripts of the Philippines, your opening page to the mystery scripts.
Back to A Philippine Leaf, your introductory page to ancient Philippines.

The Butuan Silver Strip (http://www.bibingka.com/dahon/mystery/silver.htm)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/70/Ph_locator_agusan_del_norte_butuan.png

Butuan's land area of 81,278 hectares is a large rectangular area that straddles both sides of the Agusan River. It is bordered by the highlands of Agusan del Sur to the south and Butuan Bay towards the north.

1n 1985 the Local Government ministry (previous DILG) granted the city a highly urbanized status. It is a first class city by DILG standards.


nakakatuwa naman ang mga ciudad sa Mindanao, may kanya kanyang bay. LOL

Ang Butuan may Butuan Bay
Ang Gingoog may Gingoog Bay
Ang Cagayan de Oro may Macajalar Bay
Ang General Santos may Sarangani Bay
Ang Davao may Davao Gulf
Ang Iligan may Iligan Bay
Ang Pagadian may Illana Bay

manileno

thats keen observation :)
I never noticed that myself until you post that message; well probably my explanation to this is that these large bodies of water are so named after the city near it, is beause most of these cities sprung or grew due to the important role of these bodies of water play in their early trade with other provinces especialy Visayas. As you can note, there are more cities at the northern part of Mindanao coasts as compared to the southern part.

4 to 5 decades ago when standard highways are not yet in place in Mindanao these bodies of water served as conduits for trade and commerce to nearby areas.

http://e-butuan.com/uploads/photos/34.jpg
BUTUAN BAY

BUTUAN ~ City of the Future
http://pic13.picturetrail.com/VOL473/4138906/8638500/117796561.jpg

http://pic13.picturetrail.com/VOL473/4138906/8638500/117796674.jpg


wow 'gleng talga ng butuan

http://www.bibingka.com/dahon/mystery/seal.gif
BUTUAN IVORY SEAL

The Butuan Ivory Seal
by Hector Santos
All rights reserved.

Shown on the top is an ivory seal from Butuan. The upper representation is how a wax impression from the tool would look like. The lower view shows the face of the ivory seal except that it has been flipped (mirror image) to show the writing in its correct orientation. The combination of the positive impression and the negative but flipped view gives a better idea of what the writing looks like than either one alone.

The ivory seal's provenance is unknown to me. Antoon Postma reports that it was shown to him by Dr. Angel Bautista in 1990 at a conference in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. He says that the seal was in Bautista's custody but does not know whether it belonged to the National Museum or not.

The writing is stylized Kavi, each letter being fitted into an oblong box so that it appears distorted. Postma states that the script is similar to that on the inscription of Puh Serang near Kediri dated 1002. He further indicates that the writing says "Butban," which presumably stands for "Butwan" or "Butuan" since b and w are frequently interchangeable.

If this is correct, the three symbols need to transliterate as bu, t-ba, and n. Although I am not very familiar with this specific variation of the script, I find it hard to see the medial form of u in the first symbol and the t-ba ligature in the second symbol.

However, I find it interesting that the two smaller symbols are of a different style from the three main symbols. These are the symbols located immediately under the first two of the three larger symbols. (Postma took these to be the medial form of u and part of the second symbol which should be a ligature.)

Because they are not stylized to look square and are much thinner than the upper symbols, I thought that they could have been written in a script different from the main and larger symbols. As a matter of fact, if we turn the seal around 180 degrees, this is what it will look like:
http://www.bibingka.com/dahon/mystery/seal.gif

The smaller symbols can now be read as ba-wa (or bat-wan or some other combination) in a script similar to Tagbanwan. If there was a diacritic under the first symbol, it would read but-wan or "Butuan!"

Is it possible that the "missing" diacritic got worn out? A closer inspection of the ivory seal would prove whether this speculation is warranted or not.

Could the seal have employed two different scripts in use then? It would create quite a stir if such can be proven because the Tagbanwan script, or at least something similar, would have been known to the people of Butuan. The script has similarities to the Tagalog script but has never been found outside Palawan.

Postma now maintains that the main symbols could be read as i-bu-tba-n (distorted) or even as mnA-tba-n or pnA-tba-n.

Even if this were correct, the first symbol would still be a long way from being a bu. To me reading but-ban on the seal would be stretching credibility a little too much. On the other hand, it may also be just a coincidence that the lower symbols look like but-wan in another script. However, that is my guess at this time.

Or does Postma read but-ban and I, but-wan, because they are what we desperately want the symbols to be?
Additional Reading
Santos, Hector. "Artifacts with writing revisited" in Sulat sa Tans๔, 2:5 (June 1995), 1.
-----. "I see Butwan, you see Butban" in Sulat sa Tans๔, 2:5 (June 1995), 5.
-----. "Other pre-Hispanic writing artifacts" in Sulat sa Tans๔, 2:2 (February 1995), 1.
-----. "The Butuan Ivory Seal" in Sulat sa Tans๔, 2:2 (February 1995), 1-2.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Other Mysterious Philippine Scripts
The Calatagan Pot, a clay pot with writing around its neck.
Errors in Early Calatagan Pot Material, be careful when reading early material.
Calatagan Pot Translations, early attempts to decipher the script.
The Butuan Silver Strip, a silver bar with writing inscribed by a knife.
Butuan Silver Strip Deciphered?, an attempt to decipher the writing using the Eskaya script.
The Eskaya Script, script used by a secret society on the island of Bohol.
Back to Mystery Scripts of the Philippines, your opening page to the mystery scripts.
Back to A Philippine Leaf, your introductory page to ancient Philippines.
To cite:
Santos, Hector. "The Butuan Ivory Seal" in A Philippine Leaf at http://www.bibingka.com/dahon/mystery/seal.htm. US, October 26, 1996.

Is Butuan as crowded as other Philippine cities? Im thinking this country never had a city borne out of planning? I haven't heard much about Caraga. Big Region with so few cities: just Butuan and Surigao City? Maybe this is where future cities will rise.

Manileno:

with Butuan's land area of 81,278 hectares and a population of roughly 300,000+, population density would not be that high. However over the past 5 years, there has been an increasing movement of people from the countryside towards the urban area and likewise some rurban areas have become urbanized as people in the center tend to settle in these barangays as new subdivisons and residential areas are established.

here's the satellite photo of the city center showing the extent of urban sprawl towards the countryside. The light green shade are urban to rurban areas, while the dark green are rural areas:

http://pic13.picturetrail.com/VOL473/4138906/8638500/117469440.jpg

Butuan City's present urban area unfortunately did not sprung from a planned layout, but rather a conglomeration of villages that eventually overlap as they develop and grew, fusing and becoming the present urban area.

However newer areas in the city are products of recent planning. With such huge tracts of land still available for expansion, the city government in partnership with Palafox have developed the city development masterplan and land use plan. It seeks to establish new growth areas in the city by building new commercial, residential and industrial sites within this 81,278 hectare-city.
http://pic13.picturetrail.com/VOL473/4138906/8638500/117580473.jpg

The sprawl to the rurban areas is a phenomenon that challenges present city planners.
http://pic13.picturetrail.com/VOL473/4138906/8638500/117580481.jpg

Thursday, December 01, 2005

Caraga's infra geared for tourism
By Ben Serrano
Caraga correspondent- Sun Star Daily

BUTUAN CITY -- What do Rome's coliseum, Paris' Eiffel tower, and England's London Bridge have in common? They are now known worldwide as "tourist spots or attractions."

If plans don't miscarry, the government is planning to make scenic infrastructures in Caraga Region.

These include projects like the P557 million Proposed Magsaysay Viaduct funded by Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), the P 1.9-B Magsaysay Bridge and by-pass roads funded under the 23rd Yen Loan also of the JBIC and the floodwall projects of the Lower-Agusan Development Project.

Engineer Philip Nuñez, Project Manager of the Cotabato-Agusan River Basin Development Project (CARDBP) Project Management Office and Engineer Romeo S. Momo, DPWH-Caraga Regional Director said these projects would be landmarks of infrastructure development in Caraga Region.

They said these would not only spur economic progress but would also be a "tourist spots" because of its exceptional structures.

Nuñez and Momo said the high impact projects such as Butuan's second bridge, Viaduct and the floodwall projects of the Department of Public Work and Highways (DPWH) would attract local and foreign tourists and local residents.

Nuñez said streetlights in viaducts and in flood control, dam-like structures would be installed wherein park-type benches for park goers and those who wanted to enjoy watching scenic Butuan Bay and Agusan River.

He added the nearly five kilometer stretch dam of the flood control gateway in opposite sides of the Agusan River would have a "walkers avenue" wherein juggers or early morning runners can enjoy.

"A café, tent, food stores or waiting shed areas would also be installed within the huge flood control structures where park goers or plain viewers can easily buy food, chat, relax and sit to make their river watching a total enjoyable one", Nuñez said.

He said the structures would not only protect residents from floods but would also give residents, local and foreign tourists alike a chance to enjoy river and bay watching and to breathe fresh air with families and friends.

Manileno:

http://pic13.picturetrail.com/VOL473/4138906/8638500/117580473.jpg


wow, is that the most beautiful river ive seen in a Philippine city? Wide and well-defined. I can also see from the map that Butuan is situated in an island, separated from mainland Mindanao by 2 wide rivers. Very nice location. Similar to Manhattan and Montreal. Really something to look forward to in the future. Thanks for showing me around. Here's to Butuan! :cheers:

Underconstruction na po ba ang Coliseum sa Butuan? Kelan po matatapos?

the coliseum is in the planning stage. it is an integral part of the planned east urban development that is planned to rise at the city's eastern bank

Mazaua: Magellan’s Lost Harbor

A Lee Shore Stands For 1521 Safe Haven Thanks To Errors of Translation, Copying, Bad Logic, Superficial Research And An Attempt At Fraud By A Government Historical Agency

By Vicente C. de Jesús

The chance landfall at Mazaua was a fleeting episode in the 1,081-day circumnavigation of the world. The little isle (Figure 1) was the second landfall in Philippine waters of Magellan’s fleet.

Evidence points to Fernão de Magalhãis as having a direct hand in naming the isle. The place-name Massawa was familiar to the Portuguese explorer. Massawa was one of two ports of entry in the Red Sea where, since classical antiquity, Asian luxury goods including spices were disgorged then brought by camel caravans to Alexandria. From there, the goods were transferred to waiting galleys going to parts of the Mediterranean and Europe. (Cameron Appendix B) Magellan (anglicized name of the Portuguese explorer) was a minor member of the Portuguese sea borne force in the Indian Ocean theater of operation whose main objective was to block trading ships from reaching Massawa and Jidda, (Joyner 39) a futile attempt of the Iberian superpower to establish a monopoly in the spice trade. (Scammel 272)

The Armada de Molucca, now reduced to three naos from five and down to about 186 men from its original complement of 270 men of diverse nationalities, lay at anchors in Mazaua from March 28 to April 4, 1521. The visit to this mystery isle was, in the eyes of one Magellan biographer, the happiest most restful interlude (Zweig 227) to an otherwise interminable succession of physical, mental and spiritual struggle to remain afloat. In Mazaua Magellan and his men were received with warmth and cordiality, a counterpoint to the violence that marked many an encounter of cultures during the Age of Exploration. Here no quarrel ensued, no blood spilled except in a ceremonial blood compact or casi casi between the captain general and the Mazaua king, Siaiu, to signify goodwill and eternal brotherhood.

The Mazaua landfall also saw the world encompassed linguistically when Magellan’s slave and the Mazauans spoke in Malayan, the trade lingua franca in Southeast Asia. (Zweig 226)

Two events define the meaning of Mazaua for most Filipinos, the Easter mass and the planting of a large cross atop the tallest hill. The Philippines is an isolated rock of Christianity in a huge ocean lashed by the powerful waves of Islam, Buddhism, Hindu and other beliefs. Of its 76 million people 83% are Catholics, 9% Protestants. Mazaua, therefore, is an icon to a deeply religious people, an event of overarching importance. This aspect of a signal event in world geography and Renaissance navigation has unfortunately served to distort the way the event is viewed.

Like a more famous landfall a generation before Magellan’s there is debate as to where Mazaua is although there is an official version that is almost universally believed except for a few holdouts. There is a major difference between the Columbus first landfall controversy and the Mazaua. As far as I know, no one asks, Where was the first mass held in America? In the Philippines the only question asked is, Where was the site of the first mass, Butuan or Limasawa? This question has led to a historiographical and geographical disaster where a lee shore represents Magellan’s safe haven. My paper will discuss the making of the Mazaua conundrum, how Magellan’s safe haven became a lee shore, and why an agency of government has willfully proclaimed what is fraudulent, and I lastly will locate where Mazaua is today.

Four Eyewitness Accounts
Of nine firsthand relations of the voyage around the world, four contain references to the Mazaua episode. These accounts are represented by extant manuscripts, all mere copies of originals now lost. Every account, except the one by Gines de Mafra, the last to surface, is represented by several copies. The accounts do not fully agree with each other—at the superficial level—and copies of a particular account are not exact duplicates; and the sequence of their publication dates have greatly influenced the blurred reconstruction of the event. These accounts are by:

A. Antonio Pigafetta—there are some 30 editions in 7 languages of the three codices out of four of what is universally accepted as the most complete account. (Brand 365)

1. Ambrosian codex (in Italian)—the first transcription by Carlo Amoretti, 1800, is seen by scholars as defective because of liberties taken with Pigafetta’s text. But it is the most critical in the making of Magellan’s port into Limasawa, (Fig. 2) the isle believed to be Mazaua. The text established by Andrea da Mosto, 1894, is the superior transcription and was basis for the authoritative 1906 English translation by James Alexander Robertson (Torodash 325) to which almost exclusively Philippine historiographers owe their view of the episode. The Ambrosian is written in 16th century chirography, certain indecipherable words have caused confusion, e.g., the king of Mazaua has been variously read as Siago, Siain, Siani, Siaui, and Siaiu. Its convoluted syntax has resulted in that king getting interchanged with the king of Butuan;

2. Nancy-Libri-Phillipps-Beinecki-Yale codex (in French)—very likely represents the true gift manuscript that Pigafetta presented to his intended benefactor, Lord Philippe de Villiers l’Isle Adam, Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes. A facsimile edition with an accompanying volume of R.A. Skelton’s English translation was published only in 1969, when the above errors had become too deeply ingrained in the mind and would require Herculean efforts to correct. The Yale ms. has been ignored by analysts which is a pity as it probably represents the settled thoughts of Pigafetta. Our government historical agency, the National Historical Institute, deliberately ignored this codex and two key testimonies not found in the Ambrosian which, if admitted into the discussion, would by themselves compel a rewriting of the history of Mazaua;

3. Ms. fr. 5650 (in French)—transcribed and collated with the other codices by the Belgian scholar Jean Denucé and published in 1911, and by Léonce Peillard in 1956. This like the Yale ms. has not figured in the analyses by Philippine historiographers. A good portion of Ms. fr. 5650, including the Mazaua episode, was translated into English by Lord Stanley of Alderley, 1874;

d. Ms. fr. 24224 (in French)—the only unpublished codex. It is heavily abridged, many details of navigation, ethnography and geography have been removed (Skelton 24); it is as princely as the Yale ms. in execution.

B. Francisco Albo

1. Madrid ms—transcribed and published by Martín Fernandez de Navarette in Colección...1837. A wrong latitude 90 40’ N (Alboa 202) resulting from an amanuensis error has fortified a fallacious argument that has propped up the Limasawa hypothesis. Robertson translated a good part of Albo into English in many scattered notes;

2. London ms.—transcribed and translated into English by Lord Stanley of Alderley, 1874. This manuscript has the correct latitude 90 20’ N (Albob 225) as read also by a Belgian scholar (Denucé 309). Professional Philippine historiographers are not aware of this latitude. The NHI willfully ignored it;

3. Lisbon ms.—unpublished.

C. The roteiro of the Genoese Pilot

1. Lisbon copy—in Portuguese, as all the three others, was published in Lisbon in 1826, collated with the Paris ms. Amanuensis’ and transcription errors have led to faulty analysis. Robertson has translated parts of the roteiro scattered throughout his copious annotations;

2. Madrid ms.—while unpublished is collated in the English translation by Stanley;

3. Paris ms.—included in the annotation of the Portuguese publication;

4. A fourth copy, supposedly bearing two signatures, Hernando and Francisco de Araujo, was being touted by a bookseller, but has not otherwise received critical study.

5. Ginés de Mafra—written by the only seaman to return to Mazaua, (CDIU 54) published in Spain only in 1920. It is the last to surface. It has been accessed by Western navigation historians and Magellan scholars but is almost unknown in the Philippines. An unfortunate remark by a Magellan historiographer (Torodash 320) has waylaid Philippine historiographers into ignoring this most critical account in so far as solving the Mazaua issue is concerned. Torodash, quoting a noted geographer (Brand 366) asserts Mafra’s account “cannot be based on more than Mafra’s memory of what he might have read in a Tratado begun by Andrés de San Martín.” There is no way to prove the validity of this claim because the Tratado no longer exists and is known only from fragmentary references to it. This charge ironically serves to raise the value of Mafra’s work since it possibly reflects the shared observations of two masterful pilots. In the case of San Martín, he was a genius in determining longitude with some accuracy, an ability unsurpassed for 200 years. (Joyner 178). Mafra’s testimony would revolutionize the reconstruction of the Mazaua episode. The National Historical Institute, knowing fully expert acceptance of its authenticity has dismissed Mafra giving no explanation or reason.


The Ultimate Truth?

Today Mazaua is universally believed to be Limasawa, an isle in Leyte in latitude 90 56’ N and longitude 1250 5’ E. Every literature on the circumnavigation makes the ritualistic footnote that Mazaua is present-day Limasawa. Recent writings tend to omit this ritual altogether, and Mazaua is no longer mentioned.

A notable exception is French maritime historian Léonce Peillard who pays no obeisance to the ritual. In fact he locates Mazaua in the Genoese Pilot’s 90 N (Pigafettad 314) declaring outright it is in Mindanao (Pigafettad 317). These bold assertions seem calculated to directly address key points in the Mazaua controversy, which is otherwise a parochial issue unknown outside the Philippines. If Peillard’s departure from orthodoxy results from an awareness of the issue, he gives no indication, but he is the only navigation historian to hold such a maverick view. Even so Peillard gives no explanation of his operation in arriving at his conclusion that Mazaua is in Mindanao. For our purposes, therefore, his opinion while worthy of note is not all that helpful.

In any case, the belief Limasawa is Mazaua—except for a few holdouts—is total. Two Philippine laws enshrine it. Top Philippine historians, living or long gone support it. The government’s historical agency has thrice affirmed its validity. In its latest affirmation, the National Historical Institute claims it had “conclusively established” the final truth about Mazaua being Limasawa. (Gancayco 24) It even invokes the Bible for moral support in making its findings. Its top man, when this “final truth” was promulgated even advised the “unbelievers” to foreswear investigating the issue further—a strange notion for a professional historian to embrace.

There are just a number of difficulties with NHI’s “final truth”:

1)Limasawa has no anchorage. Coast Pilots and Sailing Directions describe the isle as “fringed by a narrow, steep-to reef, off which the depths are too great to afford anchorage for large vessels.” (Hydrographic 482) Local historians are unfamiliar with technical navigation and none thought of consulting either a Coast Pilot or Sailing Directions. One writer clearly spoke from unfamiliarity when he said, “[Limasawa] has a good harbor…” (Bernad 29) A notable exception was the past head of NHI who, in a little essay co-written with another historiographer, cited and quote the whole entry on Limasawa in the 1968 Coast Pilot but deliberately omit the above-quoted sentence. (Tan, Medina 35)

2) East Limasawa where supposedly Magellan’s fleet anchored is a lee shore. The 1993 Sailing Directions state: “The predominant winds are the Northeast monsoon, which prevails from October to March or April, and the Southwest monsoon, which prevails from June to September.” (Defense 197) Dumagsa is the local name for the Northeast monsoon. The phenomenon is alluded to in De Moluccis where a storm drives the fleet “to another island called Massana.” (Maximilian 121) This incident refers to the time the fleet left Homonhon and was coasting along the eastern side of Leyte.

3) No account speaks of anchoring east. An eyewitness locates the port west of Mazaua. (Mafra 198) The Yale codex map of Mazaua (Fig. 3) showing a cross atop a hill west of the isle corroborates Mafra’s testimony. All events during the week occurred in just one side of Mazaua. The east notion goes back no farther than the map of Pedro Murillo Velarde, S.J. that traces Magellan’s fleet shuttling back and forth to east Limasawa. Murillo’s east port had no historiographical basis or reality and is nullified by the fact east Limasawa is a lee shore. The difficulty this east notion presents will be seen in Skelton’s willful mishandling of the word “maestral” that throughout he translated “northwest.” In the Mazaua episode, seeing Pigafetta’s words will not fit the real world, Skelton mistranslates “maestral” as “southwest” (Pigafettaf 73) since it is physically impossible to sail northwest from east Limasawa. (Fig. 4)

The NHI affirmed the east anchorage nevertheless by dismissing Mafra and by ignoring the existence of the Yale map. In its final report of March 1998, NHI simply ignores all other Pigafetta codices except the Ambrosian as well as the Genoese Pilot account. This grotesque behavior can by no means be viewed as legitimate historiography. But the panel members may have achieved their shortsighted if foolish aim of affirming Limasawa at all cost. Never mind if it turned truth on its head. It is the kind of boneheadedness Tuchman describes that achieves the exact opposite of what it aims for.

A sober inventory of properties of Mazaua will show that outside of the fact that both are isles, there is nothing common between Limasawa and Mazaua. Figure 5 is a comprehensive list of Mazaua features, properties, and clues juxtaposed against Limasawa. This exercise comprises an analytical definition to establish the identify of Mazaua. It shows that at no point does Mazaua and Limasawa coincide from name, latitudes, shape, size, distance, direction of the isles, description of its houses, agriculture, slope of the mountains, etc. These two isles are absolutely different.



Ramusio Blunder: “Traduttore, traditore”



It may be asked how two completely different things can be seen as being one and the same, perfect, exact, total equal of each other? How could such a big foul up happen? How can historians be so deceived by their materials? The answer to this illumines the Italian saying, “Translator, traitor.”



The root of this mess goes back to 1523 with publication of Maximilian Transylvanus’ De Moluccis...a secondhand account of the circumnavigation based on interviews with the survivors of the Magellan expedition. This account was an instant bestseller that saw several reprints. It established the place-name of Magellan’s anchorage as Messana or Massana, (Maximilian 121) corruptions of the place-name Mazaua that persisted up to the 1894 edition of the Ambrosian codex. (Mosto 71-84) In navigation the words stand for mizzenmast. In religion they mean something else, a meaning that would stump a Church historian writing in 1663 about the evangelization of the Philippines. His solution to the problem would result to the historiographical disaster where a lee shore today represents Magellan’s safe port.



De Moluccis so saturated the European market Antonio Pigafetta could not get his book printed by the time he had his manuscript ready. Pigafetta’s recourse was a Renaissance expedient open to courtiers seeking preferment. He came up with a gift manuscript now lost exemplified by the four copies earlier enumerated. This gift manuscript was copied—how many times, no one is sure— which in turn were recopied and the various texts were translated and retranslated back to its original Italian resulting in an accumulation of copyist and translation errors.



Butuan Anchorage: Mystifying Error


A profound, inexplicable, mystifying change occurred in the 1536 Italian translation of Pigafetta’s account extracted from the French Colines edition which in turn was translated from an Italian original now lost. Magellan scholars agree the 1536 edition was written (or plagiarized) by Gian Battista Ramusio since it appears under his name in his 1550 collection of travel accounts Primo Volume delle Navigationi et Viaggi. In this edition in Chapter 38 “emendations” are to be seen in a sentence that reads “In questa Isola Messana.” (Pigafettae 281) This is where the big switch occurs: the anchorage from March 28-April 4, 1521 and all events of that week—an Easter mass, planting of a big cross, war games, etc.—are made to happen in Butuan instead of Mazzaua.



How this mistake came about is hard if not impossible to explain. The mystically inclined may see a hidden hand that is discernible only when the puzzle unravels at the end. In any case, Ramusio makes things even more complicated. From Butuan, the fleet sails for Cebu and all of a sudden, without rational explanation, the Armada finds itself in an isle named Messana where Magellan and his men stayed eight days. The calendar dates of this stay are unclear and confused. The location of Messana is latitude 90 40’ N. (Ramusio 395)



Ramusio’s version of the March 1521 one-week episode will persist throughout the 16th century up to 1800. The Butuan anchorage will be the version that will be known throughout this period except in Portugal where contemporary accounts do not mention any anchorage other than in “Maçagua.” Only when an authentic Pigafetta account will surface in 1800 will the Butuan error be known and another “big switch” will occur through the ministration of another Italian hand. This switch will lead us to the present conundrum.



Ramusio Deception & The Rule Of Immediacy



Among other things the craft of history is concerned with problem-solving. Untangling the above confused story, further obfuscated by a secondhand account that contradicted Ramusio, would in 1663 test the mettle of a missionary chronicler one hundred twenty seven years after Ramusio. His solution will lead to the difficulty we now face. His Dimasaua (later renamed Limasawa) is the sorry end of his attempt to piece together a consistent harmonious story out of contradictory versions of Mazaua. More to the point, the Limasawa mistake is the unintended result of blindly applying the rule of immediacy in evidence without regard for data from the real world. It is emblematic of the clash between idea and reality.



Francisco Colín, S.J., was a Spanish missionary assigned to the region where Leyte and Limasawa belong. He stayed there six years. In that period, it may be presumed he learned the geography of the area. Writing a book on evangelization of the Philippines, he undertook to include an epitome of the Magellan voyage which was important to his theme because of the first mass incident. It should be borne in mind he was not all that concerned about anchorage or navigation. Colín faced a dilemma when he reached the part on the mass. His two sources were in completely and hopelessly in disagreement. Pigafetta’s (Ramusio’s) account said the place where that seminal event took place was Butuan. His other source, Antonio de Herrera’s secondhand relation, largely based on notes of the fleet chief pilot-astrologer, Andrés de San Martín, (Joyner 351) said the event took place in a small isle named Muzagua or Mazagua. (Herrera 23) Ironically, as we now know, but unknown to Colín who was deceived by Ramusio, Herrera’s version was faithful to the facts.



Which version to choose? Applying the rule of immediacy, Colín rightly opts for what he assumed was an authentic eyewitness account, Pigafetta’s, and made Butuan situ of the events of March 1521 including the first mass. But his solution created another dilemma. Ramusio bound Colín to name the stopover isle Messana a name that contradicts his story of Butuan as site of the first mass on land. Massana to Colín meant the place where mass was held, (Combés cxxxiij) a meaning that would go against his choice of Butuan and would confound his readers. He resolves this dilemma with a clever invention that partly draws on Herrera’s Mazagua and his own imagination by adding his own “signature” the prefix Di probably to distance it from the source he had disprized. Dimasaua is not found in any primary or secondary account. Nor is it found in a Philippine language or dialect. It is not as one writer asserts (Bernad 3) a misspelling of Limasawa, a name that came four years later. That Dimasaua is an invention has not been detected by historiographers. Colín had ingeniously inserted it at the beginning of his book in a discussion of Philippine geography where he matter-of-factly mention Dimasaua as an isle in Leyte giving the unwary reader the impression it was always so named. (He fails in this attempt; many writers will come up with their own names.) Why he chose Di and not any other prefix we can only speculate. But others after him will.



Oral Tradition



In explaining the discrepancy between the place-name Mazaua and Dimasaua later renamed Limasawa, oral tradition is invoked since it cannot be found in documentary evidence. Was Colín’s choice based on oral tradition? That is to say, was there folk belief in 1663 that Dimasaua was where Magellan landed on March 28, 1521? In fact, Colín does not say the navigator went to this isle and stayed for a week and did all the activities that transpired in Mazaua. Colín cites only Ramusio and Herrera as his sources. How did he pick the Leyte isle as the Messana in Ramusio’s version? The one clue that could be his basis was Messana’s latitude 90 40’ N. It is not identical with Dimasaua’s, but advocates of the Limasawa theory argue this latitude proves Mazaua and Limasawa (Dimasaua) are one and the same, perfect, exact, total equal of each other. We shall discuss this issue thoroughly later.



An inspired explanation for the discrepancy in names is that the written manuscript on which Colin may have based his place-name was done in such an ornate calligraphic style that the M in Messana was misread as D and later L. (Schreurs 30) “A calligraphed capital ‘L’ at the beginning of a page or paragraph forms actually three fourths of a ‘D’ in quite a number of old manuscripts; especially if the curling end of the upper pen-stroke has become faded, both letters are at times hardly distinguishable (certainly for non-cognescenti) in some 17th century handwriting and this fact may probably explain the twin names ‘Limasawa’ and ‘Dimasawa’ among copyists.” This is a futile exercise in what is called the fallacy of the possible proof. It in effect says that somewhere out there in the realm of the imagination a manuscript exists that in some distant future, if the reader will persist in finding for himself, will prove his point. This is to abdicate his responsibility as historian, transferring to his reader the burden of proving his assertion. But he disproves himself at the end of his own monograph (more like a manifesto, really) where there is shown Ramusio’s page 357 where while severely reduced one can read clearly the word “Massana.” (Schreurs 88)



Another tale that gained currency and has yet to completely run its course is that Magellan’s query about the name of the isle was misheard or misunderstood by the king who replied instead that he had five wives. In the Cebuano or Waray waray languages five wives is supposedly “lima” (five) “asawa” (wives). So Magellan named the isle Limasawa. This fabricated story has no relevance to the real event. It thrived largely on ignorance what Pigafetta really wrote, of the fact Pigafetta was a lexicographer and that Massawa was a familiar word to Magellan. Also, it may be noted, Siaiu, the king of Mazaua had only one wife christened Lisabeta in Cebu.



Dimasaua Challenged



Just four years after publication of Colin’s work, his nomenclature for the isle was “challenged” by another chronicler, a Jesuit missionary, who worked in Mindanao. Francisco Combés, in Historia de Mindanao y Iolo…, states the stopover isle in Leyte is named Limasaua, by which it is known today. Unlike Colín, Combés does not cite any source for his story. He could not have had any source outside of Ramusio and Herrera. And, while he does not say so, he clearly adopted Colín’s solution to the dilemma posed by the conflicting version of Ramusio and Herrera. But deviated from Colín by the simple device of changing the prefix to Li. Both words Dimasaua and Limasaua are not found in any Philippine language or dialect. These came into existence with Colín and Combés. If one were inclined to view the twist and turns of the episode from another plane, these prefixes form a cryptogram that hints at the isle’s identity. By joining the two prefixes the word “dili” is formed; in Bisaya it means “not.”



The Leyte isle came to be known by many other names, variously spelled, by resident writers who one would presume should speak from personal knowledge. One historian said it was named Simasaua. (Redondo 205) In 1744 another chronicler declared its names were Dimasaua and Limasaua. (San Antonio 85) Another Filipino historian asserts it was named “Limasaua, Masaua y Simasaua.” (Reyes 7) As late as 1914, a noted historian from Leyte itself would declare the isle was named and variously spelled “Limasaoa, Limasaua, Limasana, Limasava, Limasagua, Dimasawa, Dimasava, Simasaua, Masaua.” (Artigas 32) Giving the isle all sorts of names had become a minor cottage industry that ceased operation in 1930 only when the Philippine Committee on Geographic Names—in Manila, so far from the action—intervened and declared ex cathedra the correct name was Limasawa without giving a cogent argument. This is ironic. Between Colín and Combés, the former was the better historian who at least cites his sources while the latter leaves his readers completely at a loss where his facts and information are coming from, a serious defect that gets rewarded by adopting his invention. But the Committee’s choice was in fact based on ignorance of how Limasawa gained primacy.



How Limasawa Became Mazaua



The Ramusio-Colín-Combés exegesis finally found its way over half a century later into a map, that of Pedro Murillo Velarde, S.J., perhaps the most famous ever crafted in the Philippines. (Fig. 6) Murillo’s map of the Philippines shows for the first time Limasaua, an isle sandwiched between Bohol and Panaon, the only landmass between the two large islands. In Pigafetta’s map, it is clearly the isle named “Gatighan,” Bisayan for “outriggers.” (See Fig. 1) It is a volcanic outcrop with a young soil. Neither Colín nor Combés saw Pigafetta’s map, a corrupted representation of which came out only in 1906 in the Pigafetta edition of Robertson. It is probable they would not have picked the isle to represent Mazaua had they seen the map. But then again, who knows? Even today leading historians, seeing the authentic map of Pigafetta, see Limasawa as Mazaua not Gatighan. In the map Mazaua is spread like a sting ray, Limasawa looks like a truncated earthworm, and historians see they are perfectly, exactly and totally alike.



The choice of the place-name Limasaua rather than Dimasau was out of whim more than out of any logical consideration. This is clear from the testimony of the mapmaker himself who states in his 1752 book Geographia historica...that the isle’s names were Dimasaua and Limasaua. (Murillo 69) He had two names to choose from and picked one for no particular reason. This is not the first time that pure chance has played a trick in human history.



The very same year, 1734, Murillo’s map came out an almost exact copy by French cartographer-geographer Jacques N. Bellin was published in France. Bellin’s map differs only in his use of up-to-date meridians of longitude where Murillo partly used 1521 conceptions. To Bellin, ironically, rather than Murillo, is directly owed the complete transformation of Limasaua, Ramusio’s stopover isle, into Mazaua, Magellan’s port of March 28-April 4, 1521. This metamorphosis was the handiwork six decades later of another Italian hand, just as it was an Italian who had transformed Mazaua to Butuan.



Amoretti’s “Switch”


In Milan, 61 years after Bellin’s map came out, Carlo Amoretti made a serendipitous discovery. Lost among thousands of volumes in Ambrosiana Library, where he was chief librarian, was an authentic copy of Pigafetta’s relation that Amoretti chanced upon. This ms. is known today as Ambrosian codex. Amoretti published five years later, in 1800, his transcription and annotated edition that most scholars consider shabby because of liberties taken with Pigafetta’s text. In the context of the Mazaua controversy, however, it has played the most decisive role. It triggered the transformation of Limasaua from way station on the fleet’s traverse to Cebu into the Mazaua anchorage where the Easter mass took place.



The Ambrosian revealed Ramusio’s error and showed Messana (Mazaua) not Butuan was the anchorage of March 1521. At the specific point where this revelation is found, Amoretti expresses the probability Messana may be the “Limassava” in Bellin’s map. (Pigafettab 66) Six pages further on Amoretti states—wrongly—Limassava and Messana are in latitude 90 40’ N. (Pigafettab 72) In fact Limasawa’s latitude is 90 56’ N. This fallacy is the basis of the notion the two are identical.



It is important to analyze Amoretti’s operation because it is here that the historical conundrum takes on a decisive turn. Amoretti’s argument was that Limasaua, the stopover of the Ramusio-Colín-Combés-Murillo-Bellin exegesis, was Messana anchorage of Magellan. As proof he cites Pigafetta’s 90 40’ N which, Amoretti states, is the common latitude of the two. Therefore, so Amoretti’s argument goes, they are identical. He has no other argument nor any other proof. No one has challenged Amoretti’s assertion. And none has seen the logical sleight-of-hand he used in proving Limasaua and Mazaua are identical. It remains undetected. Amoretti is not even known to have constructed this argument. Philippine historiographers dropped his paternity over this hypothesis, everyone claiming fatherhood.



Recall that Limasaua left Philippine soil in the form of Murillo’s map. Here it was a stopover, and unstated in the map is the rest of Ramusio’s tale that Butuan was the fleet’s port. In an instant Murillo’s Limasaua became Bellin’s Limassava. The same Limasaua came home after circumnavigating the globe as it were no longer as the stopover but this time as Amoretti’s Messana or the authentic Mazaua of Magellan. And what reasoned argument sustained this metamorphosis? Itself! Amoretti’s logical trick: Pigafetta’s Messana may be Bellin’s Limasaua, since they are in the same latitude 90 40’ N. Therefore, Messana, the port, and Limasaua, the way station, are one and the same.

Amoretti’s argument would be uncritically accepted by succeeding scholars and historians, notably, Stanley, Mosto, Guillemard, Robertson, McKew Parr, Zweig, Morison, Pozzi, Mariano Cuesta Comingo, Martin J. Noone, Skelton, etc. Not one of them traced back the notion to Colín. Not one ever looked into the reality of the Leyte isle, whether it did offer anchorage.



Amoretti’s hypothesis would become James A. Robertson’s dicta. In Vol. II of the monumental 55-volume The Philippine Islands, Robertson cites Stanley’s translation of Amoretti’s footnotes. He ends his note with an unargued and unproved assertion, “It [Massaua] is doubtless the Limasaua of the present day, off the south point of Leyte.” (BR 64) The word “doubtless” is a polemicist’s device to preface an argument borne of uncertainty and resting on the solid air of a non-existent proof. The greater the doubt, the more extreme the exaggeration. It is called the fallacy of hyperbole. Thirty-one volumes later, in note 263 (BR 330), again without offering a single proof nor one reasoned argument, Robertson would declare as self-evident fact what he earlier asserts in the context of a doubt: “It is now called the island of Limasaua, and has an area of about ten and one-half square miles.” I should point out there is no technical publication stating Limasaua’s area to be 101 n.m.2 The Coast and Geodetic Survey Department, Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources, recently estimated, using computer technology and a topographic map, that Limasawa’s size is 2.0313 n.m.2 (Feir) which is what earlier studies had established.



Limasawa’s 161-Year Sojourn



Philippine historiographers would later on build on Amoretti’s argument as cornerstone of the Limasawa hypothesis. But Amoretti would fall victim to his own success. His hypothesis would be adopted but his paternity would not be recognized.



It took some 161 years for Murillo’s Limasaua to come home this time as Amoretti’s Limassava. In 1895 a giant among Philippine intellectuals, Dr. T.H. Pardo de Tavera, who had read Amoretti, Andrea da Mosto and Navarette’s Albo, declared in an essay published in a newspaper supplement “...not only was Butuan not the piece of Philippine soil on which the first mass was celebrated, but it was not even visited by that bold navigator in his memorable expedition.” He would recast the idea in more dismissive and mordant tone: “Ha sido un error afirmar que la primera misa se dijo en Butuan puesto que piedra para conservar la memoria de un suceso imaginado.” (Tavera 91) In 1897 Pablo Pastells, S.J., in a new edition of Colin would peremptorily negate the Butuan visit and assert Amoretti’s hypothesis, “Magallanes no tocó en Butuan, sino que desde la isla de Limasaua se fué derechamente á Cebú.” (Colín 40) This throwaway remark was further reinforced by another Philippine historiographer, Jaime de Veyra, who declared, “En Limasawa y no en Butuan fué en donde se celebró la primera Misa en estas regiones.”



One will be at a loss looking for the common source of these remarks, Amoretti’s two footnotes. Indeed, nowhere in Mazaua historiography will one find Amoretti being cited as the authority for the Limasaua hypothesis. Always it is Tavera or Pastells or de Veyra. One historiographer describes the two sentences of Pastells as “apodictically” proving “the First Mass had taken place in Limasawa.” (Schumacher 14) He further declares that Pastells’ conclusion Mazaua was Limasawa was “not an arbitrary one, but one based on a wide-ranging knowledge of sources and evidence.” (Schumacher 15) In fact it was solely based on Amoretti’s argument that the two isles had an identical latitude, reinforced by Albo’s wrong latitude, 90 40’ N, in Navarette thanks to an amanuensis error that by happenstance was the same as Pigafetta’s. I shall return to Albo’s latitude later when I analyze the fallacy of the latitude argument.



The same word, “apodictic”, would be used by another writer to describe the one sentence remark of de Veyra. (Bernad 34)



In all these, Amoretti is the uncited, unheard of, uncelebrated fountainhead of the Limasaua hypothesis. Declared a religious historian: “It was not Robertson but Pastells who shifted the tradition from Butuan to Limasawa, apparently changing his own earlier opinion. He did this on the basis of his knowledge of Pigafetta and Albo taken together. In this, he has been followed by all subsequent scholars here and abroad…” (Schumacher 19) True, it was not directly Amoretti’s Italian text Pastells read but the Spanish translation by José Toribio Medina, 1888. This confusion would have been avoided had Amoretti’s authorship been acknowledged. Other scholars came ahead of Pastells, and recognized Amoretti authorship. Stanley’s translation of Amoretti saw print in 1874, and Andrea da Mosto’s work on the Ambrosian ms. came out 1894, six years ahead of Pastells. Robertson directly traces his Limasawa notion to Amoretti and his belief may have been fortified by his reliance on Mosto whose text was the basis of his English translation. (Torodash 325) Mosto endorsed Amoretti’s footnotes.



A more sober, more critical analysis of the remarks of Pastells, de Veyra and Tavera will show they constructed an ambiguous, ill-defined, no so well thought out proposition. No so obvious but glaring is the absence of any proof in support of their proposition, whatever it was.



The Trap: The False Dichotomous Question


More decisive than the brushing aside of Amoretti, these brief, sweeping, unargued conclusions created the altered framework that entraps Mazaua historiography. Pastells et al. forged a shift in the way the question of Mazaua’s identity was being framed. Mazaua’s identity was being viewed through the lens of a dichotomous question in the context of the Easter mass. This framework is expressed by the classic question, “Where is the site of the first mass, Butuan or Limasawa?”



This question seeks to define Mazaua by the simple process of eliminating one of two choices. This is a trick question useful in polemics but not in historiography. This way of framing the question of identity is called the fallacy of the false dichotomous question. Invariably its first victim is the one who raises it.



Its basic flaw consists in assuming that either option could be correct. There is something odd or unethical here because we know Butuan is not a valid option. It was a translation error. The fatal flaw of the dichotomous question is that by excluding Butuan it automatically makes it appear that Limasawa is proven to be Mazaua. Succeeding operations after that is just fitting things into Limasawa like a Procrustean mold. To show how insidious the false dichotomous question is, let us suppose Imelda Marcos wanted to force on us a point about her husband’s greatness a claim that every now and then emanates from her quarters. She can very well frame the question in this manner: “Who is the greater statesman, Pol Pot or Marcos?” Since it is easy enough to prove that the former was a monster, Imelda’s proposition makes it possible for Marcos to become automatically not just a statesman but a great one to boot. Yet the more valid proposition would have been, “Was Marcos a crook or just the greatest thief in history?”



The fallacy of the false dichotomous question oversimplifies and falsifies the process of discovering the true identity of Magellan’s anchorage. More to the point, it had made a basic question no longer necessary to ask, “Is Limasawa the anchorage called Mazaua?” Such would lead to a corollary question, “Is anchoring possible in Limasawa?” If these simple questions had been asked, maybe we would not have the spectacle of a lee shore representing Magellan’s safe haven.



A dichotomous question is an invitation to sloth. It yields an easy answer, seemingly valid, that makes it unnecessary to undertake comprehensive research. It caters to the human weakness of seeking the line of least resistance, and relieves the scholar the painstaking work of building one valid assumption on top of another, constructing a whole body of evidence that ultimately creates a unified, harmonious, consistent view of the past. It will be noticed historiographers have gone no further than Robertson’s translations of Pigafetta, as well as his translations of Albo and Navarette’s Genoese Pilot scattered throughout his encyclopedic annotations. Where there ought to have been an effort to assemble all the many manuscripts representing the different eyewitness accounts, this was made unnecessary because the question was easily resolved. This explains why Ginés de Mafra is virtually unknown. By the time he had surfaced, the belief in Limasawa had become orthodoxy, minds had ossified, no longer able to admit the possibility that Mazaua could be something else.



One writer states the proposition in these words: “...the question of the first Mass has de facto become an either-or dispute: Butuan/Masao or Limasawa/Mazaua: if one is right the other is automatically wrong.” (Schreurs 72) The author of this sentence fully knew how Ramusio botched Pigafetta. This would lead to an absolutist view that closes all possibilities: “There is not a single proof of any possibility that 450 years ago the topography at Masao/Butuan would have been so totally different that there would have been so much and such wide seawater around Masao/Butuan as to justify calling it a real ‘island’ in the sense in which Pigafetta used the word.” (Schreurs 54) The author of those bombastic words is a historiographer, and here he has encroached into archaeology and geomorphology for which his bona fides do not allow him to speak in so absolutist a fashion.



The “first mass” framework also draws attention away from the fact the solution to the issue is in geography, oceanography, hydrography, navigation and nowhere in religion or Philippine historiography as usual. An awareness of this would I think have cautioned one religious historian from venturing into terra incognita. He writes: “Finally there are navigational questions. There is, for example, the question of interpreting all the directions recorded in Albo, and identifying all the islands mentioned. There is also the question of how much time it would take sailing ships of the type which Magellan had to navigate the distances involved. One might wish to know the prevailing winds are at that time of the year, as well as the sea currents and tides. I confess complete ignorance on these matters.” (Schumacher 19) I might add the thing about anchorage.



Yet in the end his effort was to prove Limasawa’s identity as Mazaua based on a technical point, the issue of latitude. His argument Pigafetta’s 90 40’ N proved Limasawa rested on two errors, the fallacy of petitio principii and dismissing the Genoese Pilot’s latitude armed with a non sequitur, Martin Torodash criticism on the literary merits of the Genoese Pilot’s account. The Magellan historiographer, a non-navigation historian, consigned the Genoese Pilot to the dustbin with this throwaway remark, “Nothing very useful can be gained from a reading of this rather boring account.” (Torodash 319) I have some reservations about resolving the Mazaua landfall issue on literary grounds.



Indeed, if technical aspects were attended to earlier at the time Colín wrestled with his dilemma, perhaps we would not now have a lee shore for Magellan’s safe haven. But that is neither here nor there. Historiographers, those alive and who have an open mind, will do well to attend to the technical details. If we all desist from asking the question, Where is the site of the first mass, Butuan or Limasawa? and start asking basic questions perhaps this issue can be resolved earlier. Questions like, “What is a lee shore?” Or, “What does the Coast Pilot say about anchoring in Limasawa?” A more direct and revelatory question, I might suggest, would be “Is anchoring possible at all in east Limasawa?”



Colín-Combés Resurrected


Amoretti’s Pigafetta interred the Butuan legend. It stayed buried for 167 years. But Ramusio’s tale was exhumed in 1965. That year an old man wrote a brief history of Butuan in the local Bisayan language where he claims hearing from his parents and old folks the story of Magellan’s visit to Butuan. (Copin) This triggered a wild eruption of local pride and a feverish search for documentary validation. The discovery of Colín and Combés and many other 17th century chroniclers who retailed the Butuan tale transformed notion into belief.



In the mid-1980s archaeological finds would strengthen belief into conviction. Wooden boats called balanghais were serendipitously dug up in Butuan. Pigafetta’s account mention balanghais being used by the people of Mazaua in going around the isle. Thus, the artifacts were seen as proof Butuan was Mazaua. Ignored was the fact the balanghais found were scientifically established to have been buried at least 300 years before Magellan’s coming. No matter, the Butuanons were far gone in their belief they refused to see these were not remnants of Magellan’s visit.



A formal construct of the Butuan notion coupled to the balanghai “proof” came in the form of a mimeographed book by an amateur historian. Here the author tried to meld Pigafetta’s account with the Colín-Combés tale. He asserts Magellan visited Butuan and anchored in today’s Masao village. He quotes an entry in the 1945 Official Gazetteer of the Philippines by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey that purports to describe Masao as an island surrounded by rivers in its north, east, south sides and a sea on its west. (Busa 32-34) This entry is non-existent; unfortunately this concoction is cited by other writers who took up the Butuan claim. But it was a futile attempt since clearly Magellan’s Mazaua was an isle surrounded by seawater.



This fraud marked the first serious breach in the controversy. Most other errors are attributable to poor research, bad logic, or plain lazy thinking.



In 1977, at the height of the Martial Law years in the Philippines, the Butuanons challenged the Limasawans to a debate. Bolstered by navigational studies of a retired maritime officer, the Butuan hypothesis focused on technical aspects like latitude, tides, currents, winds, etc. for which the other side was unprepared. Never mind that the Butuan analysis could not convince others that Masao, which is landlocked to mainland Butuan, is an isle. But in view of the seeming technical superiority of the Butuan claim, the Limasawans thought they faced a rout. Imelda Marcos had to be called by the Limasawans to save the day. Imelda comes from Leyte where Limasawa belongs, and she is the leading supporter of Limasawa.



This was a time when Imelda co-ruled with her husband in what Filipinos called the Conjugal Dictatorship. It was a time when citizens were summarily jailed for whatever reason the Dictatorship found convenient. Imelda’s displeasure would be enough to cause one’s disappearance or incarceration. So that when finally Imelda Marcos approached the site of the debate in 1977, who would be first to welcome her but the leaders of the Butuan side. And not a squeak was heard from their side from then on.



Under pressure from Imelda, the National Historical Institute gathered professional and amateur historians to a workshop in 1980 where the Limasawa hypothesis was fully ventilated. It will be recalled up until this workshop, the Limasawa hypothesis consisted of Amoretti’s two footnotes, and endorsements of those footnotes by Western historiographers, and the one– to two-sentence remarks of Pastells, de Veyra and Tavera. The Butuan monograph required more substantial response. The papers authored by professional historians, none of whom are Magellan scholars or navigation historians, were to be scholarly rebuttals.



These all dutifully concluded the evidence confirmed Mazaua is Limasawa. These papers came out in NHI’s Kasaysayan, a journal that seems to have come and gone after this initial publication. No pro-Butuan or anti-Limasawa paper was allowed. The participants passed a formal resolution affirming the Limasawa hypothesis but called for further study and research, a call that was forthwith forgotten; no further research was ever done.



Hubris: Tempting The Gods?



Armed with this unanimous affirmation by the best and the brightest of the historiographical community, Imelda Marcos had a magnificent steel and concrete church built in east Limasawa, in honor of the first mass. The entire diplomatic corps, the Catholic hierarchy, and the Martial Law bigwigs were in attendance. Airforce jets flew over the shrine to signify the occasion’s soaring intentions. It was an act of hubris. In 1984 just a few months after its inauguration, the proud structure was totally devastated by typhoon. It remains in ruin. No one ever thought to ask if this was God’s way of telling them something. East Limasawa is a lee shore, exposed to the Northeast monsoon and to at least 7 devastating typhoons yearly. Magellan could not and would never have anchored here.



Procrustean Modus Operandi


The notion Limasawa is Mazaua rests on Pigafetta’s latitude 90 40’ N. This view was reinforced by the way the question of Mazaua’s identity was framed—through the fallacy of the false dichotomous question. This dichotomy attempts to prove the Leyte isle is Mazaua by the simple exclusion of Butuan. And the next steps are merely fitting facts to the conclusion.



By happenstance, the other eyewitness account that surfaced after Pigafetta’s was Francisco Albo in Navarette’s Colección...whose latitude, thanks to an amanuensis error, was the same as Pigafetta’s 90 40’ N. Since it is accepted fact that Albo’s roteiro is the most navigationally reliable , his latitude therefore is seen to validate the Limasawa notion. I shall explain the fallacy of the Pigafetta latitude argument later. At this point I shall merely point out that Albo’s real latitude cannot be 90 40’ N but 90 20’ N which is found in the British Museum copy of the Albo account as read by Stanley (Albob 225) and Denucé (P. 309).



Information on distances, tracks, direction, description, etc. all can be and have been manipulated to fit Limasawa. Even an odd description in Pigafetta, that clearly does not fit Limasawa, was forced fit into the Procrustean mold. After the Cebu massacre, the fleet found itself in Mindanao, in Chippit, today’s Quipit, Zamboanga. Pigafetta declares, “That [Chippit] part of the island is one and the same land with Butuan and Calaghan, and lies toward Bohol, and borders on Mazaua.” (Pigafettaf 95) Another translation puts it thus: “This part of the island is of a piece with Butuan, and Calaghan, and overlooks Bohol, and shares a boundary with Mazana.” (Pigafettah 85) Stanley’s translation is no less precise: “This part of the island called Chippit is the same land as Butuan and Calaghan, it passes above Bohol, and borders on Massava.” (Pigafettag 108) It must be pointed out that the translators—Skelton, Paige, and Stanley—all identify Mazaua as Limasawa—yet it is hardly possible to view Mindanao as having a common boundary with Limasawa.



The difficulty of fitting this to Limasawa was not so formidable that a new translation cannot solve. So it will not be interpreted as suggesting Mazaua belongs to Mindanao, one writer retranslated Pigafetta. Said the intrepid writer, “The translation of the text should most probably read: ’That part of the island belongs to the same land as Butuan and Calagan, it stretches out past Bohol [=seen from Quipit, Zamboanga and including the headland of Surigao/Calagan] and is not far from Mazaua’.” (Schreurs 74) I might add that this same writer invents a Republic Act No. 2733 which he reproduces in full that proclaims Butuan as site of the first mass. (Schreurs 44) The actual and real R.A. No. 2733 is called Limasawa Law because it affirms east Limasawa as Magellan’s port and site of the first mass.



Indeed, if one were to inventory the many inventions the Mazaua debate has produced, from both sides of the contending camps, one is justified to call for an inventors workshop. Here is one sentence supposedly from Albo that contains two inventions: “Rounding the southern tip of the latter, [Panaon] they anchored off the eastern shore of a small island called Mazzaua.” (Bernad 28) What Albo really said was, “...we coasted it, [Seilani=today’s Panaon] and went to W.S.W., to a small inhabited island called Mazaba.” Nowhere does Albo say they rounded Panaon, and the notion of an east anchorage is an invention of Murillo that runs smack against nature. It puts the fleet on a lee shore. Here is another product of an active imagination, the same one who produced the full text of a non-existent law: “One wonders how in March 1521 the Magellan fleet could have been able to ‘move their ships to the other side of the island’ as Pigafetta tells us.” (Schreurs 55) What Pigafetta said was: “In the afternoon we went in the ships [and anchored] near the dwellings of the king.” (Pigafettae 111) The main point for a circumnavigation of Mazaua was to compel the Butuanon adversaries to realize the impossibility of Butuan being Mazaua since going around Mazaua would require the fleet going around Mindanao.



This brings us to the last point about the dichotomous question. The either-or approach puts the discussion right away on an adversarial plane. This causes participants to shed off objectivity and historiography becomes polemics. The search for truth becomes the hunt for the adversary’s weak points. Indeed, the discussion would degenerate to such depths that in 1998 the National Historical Institute itself would deliberately foist a false picture of the Mazaua episode. The NHI in its “Resolution” after almost two years of investigation—by willfully ignoring or dismissing evidence contrary to Limasawa—turns truth on its head, altering Colín’s innocent mistake into a lie. Why NHI would do such a sorry thing, I shall explain later.



Gines de Mafra, Beyond Procrustes


One of the most grotesque acts of the NHI was to dismiss the Mafra account. During its first formal deliberation, on December 17, 1996, the NHI panel that undertook the Mazaua inquiry accepted Mafra’s authenticity. I have this on the authority of two eyewitnesses, the secretary of the panel, Prof. August de Viana and Asst. Dir. Emelita V. Almosara, who both attended all deliberations and who cannot possibly benefit in any way by lying to me. It really had no choice. In the hands of the panel was a photocopy of the account from the Museo Naval, Madrid copy of Mafra’s book. (There are three copies in the Philippines, as far as I have seen, one is in the Lopez Museum, another in the University of the Philippines, and the third at Ateneo de Manila University.) Attached to this were photocopies of what we might call Mafra historiography, everything written about Mafra, the man, and his account. This literature included writings by Henry Harisse, J.T. Medina, Juan Gil, Samuel Eliot Morison, Tim Joyner, Donald D. Brand, Charles McKew Parr, William H. Scott, etc. In the face of overwhelming testimony attesting to Mafra’s authenticity, the panel—composed of persons without any pretensions to being Magellan scholars or navigation historians—had to bow to expert opinion.



In its final March 1998 report, however, the panel dismissed Mafra. The NHI calls Mafra an “alleged primary source(s)” and thereafter completely ignores it. It gave no reason or explanation. It simply, arbitrarily brushes it aside.



By this act NHI was able to arrive at conclusions that are invalidated by Mafra’s account.



One of the ironies of Mazaua is that the man who knows it best is the least known. Yet of all the eyewitnesses who wrote of Mazaua and even possibly of the entire Armada not excluding Magellan himself, the existence of this man, Ginés de Mafra, is the best documented in terms of official records of the Casa de Contratación de las Indias. While the most famous among them, Antonio Pigafetta, is non-existent in so far as official records is concerned; his name in the muster roll is Antonio Lombardo. We assume he is Pigafetta because he comes from Vicenza which belongs to the Italian district of Lombardy; no other member of the crew came from there.



In the case of Mafra, his voluminous records was accumulated in the course of formal hearings on his petition for recovery of his material possessions which were sold by his wife who had assumed Mafra had died during the voyage; she remarried and sold off Mafra’s things. (Medina CCCCII) He also joined a second expedition prior to his third and last when he was pilot in the Villalobos fleet. There is no way then to deny his existence and the truth of his having been to Mazaua twice.

Philippine historiographers virtually do not know Mafra. Prior to the 1996 inquiry on Mazaua, only William H. Scott, an American Protestant missionary who had become a real Filipino in spirit and intentions, had read Mafra and all the other eight eyewitness accounts on Magellan’s voyage. Scott is a historiographer’s historiographer. One of his unparalleled coups was unmasking in 1968 a historical hoax, the Code of Kalantiaw, perpetrated by a mad genius who produced what looked like an authentic account. For over half a century Filipinos were made to believe they had a pre-colonial written judicial system that governed their social relationship. Tragically, the President of the Philippines up to this writing gives out the Order of Kalantiaw Award to retired justices of theSupreme Court. The President may yet end up as the last Filipino to be informed this award honors a hoax and in effect insults the person to whom it is bestowed. The NHI has nothing to do with the hoax but I have a nagging feeling its mandate calls for it to avert something so humiliating to the Republic’s No. 1 citizen as this.



In any case, Scott, the Sherlock Holmes of Philippine historiography, completely misses out on Mafra’s testimony on Mazaua. This may be because he firmly convinced of the Limasawa theory, viewing it like all other historians from the either-or framework. He was besides the first to trace the Butuan error to Ramusio. No historiographer who views the issue through the dichotomous question can conceive of any other possibility. It will require a Herculean act of mental renewal for Philippine historiographers to be rid of this pernicious aberration of the mind.



Mafra’s account was completed after his second visit to Mazaua in 1543 as pilot in the Villalobos expedition. We know this since he mentions the king of Mazaua showing the Villalobos crew some of the gifts given him by Magellan. (Mafra 198) He stayed two months on his second visit. (Móriz 511) His testimony therefore has more weight than Pigafetta’s, Albo’s and the Genoese Pilot’s since it carries the authority of facts verified many times.



Altered Geography



Mafra’s testimony shatters many long-held beliefs about Mazaua. He locates the anchorage west of Mazaua, rendering null the east notion of Murillo. This location is consistent with the wind pattern in the area. In March-April the prevailing wind is the powerful Northeast monsoon. Thus the eastern side of islands in the region are lee shores, the western side the protected or weather shores. A west anchorage is closely correlated to the latitude and track the fleet took. Albo states the fleet went west southwest, a downward sailing, from the tip of Seilani (Panaon). All three latitudes—Pigafetta’s 90 40’ N, Albo’s 90 20’ N, and the Genoese Pilot’s 90 N—are below the tip of Panaon, consistent with the downward track. (Fig. 4) On the other hand, going to east Limasawa requires a northwest or upward track from the tip of Panaon. This will bring the fleet to a latitude above Mazaua’s three estimated latitudes. Also, let me emphasize the point again, this brings the fleet to an impossible site, a lee shore. This detail is lost on Philippine historiographers. In the case of the National Historical Institute, it challenges the notion, declaring Magellan’s ignorance of this fact made it possible for him to anchor wherever he pleased. A WSW track, needless to say, will not bring the fleet west of Limasawa either.



Another radical testimony of Mafra concerns the size of Mazaua. He states it was 3-4 leguas in circumference or 9 to 12 n.m.2 Mafra, a Spaniard from Palos, evidently used the Spanish scale of 3 nautical miles to a legua. This is based on the fact that the scale if applied to known distances would be almost precise yielding the least deviation. Hitherto, the size of Mazaua was merely described in primary accounts as “small.” (Albob 224) Limasawa is only 2.0313 n.m.2. If Mazaua were Limasawa it is not possible to explain how its mass had shrunk by 83% yet its shoreline is “steep-to” as Coast Pilots describe it. Limasawa’s shoreline should be gently sloping.



Mafra described Magellan’s anchorage as a good west port. On all counts there is no fit with the Limasawa belief: it is located in the east, the shoreline is “steep-to” and therefore affords no anchorage, and it is on the lee shore.



His fourth testimony is impossible to reconcile with Limasawa. He states Mazaua was south of or below Butuan some 15 leguas or 45 n.m. away. The first impact of this declaration is that it challenges present-day geographical conception of 1521 Butuan. It is an unexamined assumption that the Butuan being referred to by Pigafetta is the Butuan of today. Clearly Mafra’s Butuan is not present-day Butuan. If it were, Mazaua would be on top of a mountain inside Davao, in Mindanao. But Mazaua was an island surrounded by seawater. Also it could not have been in Davao because the distance between Homonhon (Humunu in Pigafetta) was only 25 leguas or 100 n.m. Putting Mazaua 15 leguas below present day Butuan would add 45 more miles to the Humunu-Mazaua distance.



Mafra’s geography puts Limasawa in an awkward location; it is 58 n.m. above today’s Butuan. But while this suggests Limasawa cannot be Mazaua, it fails to locate exactly where Mafra’s Butuan was. By locating his Butuan, we will then know where Mazaua was and where it is today. And if it is where Limasawa is located.



Where Then Was Mafra’s Butuan?


So Mafra compels us to adjust to the fact the Butuan described in European accounts does not square with the modern Butuan we know today. Where was Mafra’s Butuan then? The solution to this is so obvious, no one sees it. It is in Pigafetta’s map of Mindanao. (Fig. 8) Here Pigafetta draws a Butuan that starts from present-day Surigao and stretches all the way to Quipit in Zamboanga.



This radically altered geography is validated by a European account, the roteiro of French pilot Pierres Plin (or Plun) of the Legaspi expedition of 1565. Here Plin wrote: “We passed between Panae [ today’s Panaon] and the cabeza of Butuan four leguas from one island to the other.” (Plin 91) The distance between Panaon and Surigao’s headland, Bilaa Pt., is 11 nautical miles, short by just a mile to be exactly 4 leguas. (Fig. 9) Bilaa Pt. is in 90 49’ N and 1250 26’ E. Plin’s Butuan cannot be today’s Butuan which is 58 n.m. below Panaon. Plin gives us another clue. He states Cabalian (San Juan in today’s maps) and Butuan are separated by 7 leguas or 28 n.m. (Plin 91) Cabalian to Surigao is a distance of 31 n.m., just 3 n.m. short. Whereas the distance between San Juan and Butuan City is 78 n.m. (Fig. 10) Limasawa is therefore above Mafra’s Butuan, to be precise 18 n.m. northwest of 1521 Butuan. Mazaua was 45 n.m. below 1521 Butuan.



W.E. Retana confirms this geographical conception in his notes to his edition of Zuñiga. He states: “Butuan (Corregimiento de).—Old name of the province of Caraga. This land was the first which Magellan incorporated to the Spanish Crown.” (Zuñiga 364) And, he adds, “Caraga.—Old province of the island of Mindanao, the first to be incorporated to Spain since it was done so in 1521 by Magellan.—In the beginning it was named corregimiento de Butuan, later, Caraga and in 1849 it was called Surigao, a name which it uses at present.” (Zuñiga 368)



Thus, when the NHI dismissed Mafra, it willfully refused to allow evidence that will compel a correction of the Limasawa belief. And thus, when it affirmed Limasawa is Mazaua it is deceiving the readers by proclaiming what is untrue.

Latitude Question: Fallacy of the Circular Proof



At this point let us examine the key argument which is the sole basis for the Limasawa hypothesis. This is Pigafetta’s latitude 90 40’ N. Recall that it was the only property used by Colin to identify Dimasaua as Pigafetta’s (Ramusio’s) Messana.



Limasawa advocates argue Pigafetta’s 90 40’ N is “quite close to” or “corresponds to” Limasawa’s 90 56’ N. (Bernad 28) This idea was reinforced by an amanuensis error showing Navarette’s Albo’s latitude was also 90 40’ N. (CVD 202) Navarette’s Albo was based on the Madrid copy. In the British Museum copy, as read by Stanley and Denucé Albo’s latitude is 90 20’ N. Which is correct? Logic dictates 90 20’ N is right. Albo placed Homonhon at 90 40’ N; from here the fleet traveled three days and 25 leguas southwards to Mazaua. It could not have sailed that long and far down and still remain at 90 40’ N. This Albo latitude has escaped attention of Philippine historiographers.



One historian based his faith in the correctness of 90 40’ N being proof of Limasawa on the fact “he [Albo] was certainly the most qualified in this [navigational] regard.” (Schumacher 15) Will this argument backfire now that it turns out Albo’s latitude is not 90 40’ N but 90 20’ N? Also, is this proof Limasawa is not Mazaua?



There are several flaws to the Limasawa “corresponds” to Mazaua argument:



1)First, it assumes Pigafetta’s latitude is correct based on the misconception that since his account is the most comprehensive and the best of all the eyewitness accounts this translates as overall authority and credibility in all aspects including navigation. One historian concedes Pigafetta is weak on navigational matters (Schumacher 15) citing as authority Torodash who is actually only quoting Brand. But Schumacher overcomes this by citing Albo’s (wrong) latitude. But the issue of who is the better navigational expert is irrelevant when proving which latitude is correct. The final arbiter of correctness is if there is an isle in the latitude, and if that isle answers to all the description of Mazaua. No isle is found in either 90 40’ N or 90 20’ N. So, both are wrong.



2) More to the point, the notion of “corresponds to” constitute the logical fallacy of the circular proof. This is a trick of reasoning that has waylaid many careful thinkers. We know 90 40’ N is wrong because no isle exists in that latitude. How much was Pigafetta’s error? To say 90 40’ N is “near to” 90 56’ N, Limasawa’s latitude, is to conclude Pigafetta erred by only 16 nautical miles. That is to assume 90 40’ N is to be applied to Limasawa. Which is to assume what one is supposed to prove. Another way of putting this is that one has to assume Pigafetta was in Limasawa “shooting the sun” to be able to say he was off by only 16 minutes. That, again, assumes what one is being asked to prove.



3) The possibility the fleet could have gone to 90 56’ N is tied to the premise the anchorage is east of Mazaua and that it sailed on a northwest track from the tip of Seilani (Panaon). Mafra invalidates the east port notion, while Albo specifically states they took a west southwest track from the tip of Panaon, a downward track the brings the fleet away from Limasawa.



4) No valid argument has been offered against the Genoese Pilot’s 90 N. Schumacher’s peremptory dismissal based on its literary merits or profound lack is silly. The fact that he merely quoted Torodash makes it doubly so. In fact 90 N is the only latitude where an isle exists. But it takes an archaeologist to see it.



It must be pointed out the three latitudes have something in common. They all point to an isle below Limasawa. This fact is consistent with and is correlated to the downward track of the fleet. (See Fig. 4) The track Albo drew makes the fleet sail downwards from the tip of Panaon at 90 53’ N. An intrepid analyst foresaw this problem which would nullify the Limasawa theory. His solution was to let the fleet coast all the way to the western side of Panaon, and at the right point where a W.S.W. track can be made, he makes the fleet sail downwards ending up in east Limasawa, the perfect illusory ending in an invented port following an imaginary track. (Ataviado Fig. 2)



One way to determine if Mazaua were in Limasawa’s latitude is through Pigafetta’s estimate of the distance traveled by the fleet from Mazaua to Gatighan on its way to Cebu. He estimated the Mazaua-Gatighan distance to be 20 leguas or 80 n.m. If Mazaua were in Limasawa at 90 56’ N, then Gatighan would be somewhere in Apale Pt. in 100 52’ N. There is no isle that answers to the description of Gatighan at that latitude. (Fig. 11)



More important, according to Albo, the fleet did not sail past 100 N at which point the fleet went west to the Camotes Islands. “We departed from Mazaba and went N., making for the island of Seilani [Panaon], and afterwards coasted the said island to the N.W. as far as 100, and there we saw three islets; and we went to the W., a matter of 10 leagues, and then we fell in with two islets, and at night we stopped; and on the morrow we went S.W. and 3 S., a matter of 12 leagues, as far as 1020, and there we entered a channel between two islands, one called Matan…” (Albob 225) Fig. 12 illustrates how Pigafetta, Albo, and the Genoese Pilot converge at this point as to conform the identity of Limasawa as Gatighan and the fact Mazaua is in 90 N where Mafra’s locates the isle at 45 n.m. below 1521 Butuan.



Ignorance Is Bliss?


It must be pointed out that most errors from both camps are not motivated by any depraved desire to deceive. In many cases, these are innocent errors that stem from a blurred understanding of the accounts or a wrong turn of logic. Without exception, participants in the Mazaua debate are not Magellan scholars or navigation historians so flawed interpretation of technical details stem from failure to completely grasp what is dimly understood. Even Schreurs’ fabrication of a law that is supposed to have proclaimed Butuan as site of the first mass was not so much out of malice as a tormented soul’s obsession to trump his Butuanon parishioners who once turned their backs on the good priest.



There are however clear attempts at deceiving the readers. As I pointed out earlier an advocate of the Butuan hypothesis concocted a gazetteer entry that is non-existent. Another instance is the deliberate suppression of a sentence in the 1945 Coast Pilot that states there is no anchorage for large ships in Limasawa. (Tan/Medina 35) This act was clearly intended to hide an awkward truth.



One of the co-authors of this questionable effort subsequently became head of the National Historical Institute and presided over the deliberations of the panel that came out with its March 1998 “resolution” that can only be described as casuistry.



As earlier related, the panel accepted Mafra’s account. No authority has doubted its veracity. There is only one question raised and this has to do with the assertion of Brand, which a Magellan historiographer repeats, (Torodash 320) that Mafra’s account is nothing more than a recollection of the Tratado and other papers of Andrés de San Martín, the fleet’s chief pilot-celestial navigator. These were entrusted to Mafra before San Martin’s demise in the massacre in Cebu. Mafra had these in his possession until confiscated from him by the Portuguese just before Mafra was released from prison in 1527.



Brand’s assertion is pointless and unproductive and impossible to prove since San Martín’s papers were lost in the Lisbon earthquake or in Spain where these were accessed in the 17th century by historians like Herrera. But even granting the charge is valid, it does not vitiate the value of Mafra. In fact this only raises its credibility and authority since Mafra may reflect the common observations of two masterful pilots. Thus, technical details found in Mafra are all the more valuable for their accuracy, based on the acuity of San Andrés’ uncommon ability in celestial navigation.

Furthermore, if true Brand’s charge is a high commendation of Mafra’s ability to recall and raises even more the account’s credibility.



NHI Style Of Historiography


For nearly two years the NHI panel had in their hands Mafra’s account with exhaustive documentation of expert critical analysis of it. In that period members of the panel had all the time to gather contrary opinion to nullify Mafra’s testimony. For NHI therefore to dismiss Mafra arbitrarily without reason is not just rank irresponsibility but, worse, opens to the charge of distorting truth to favor a particular point of view.



There are other deliberate suppression of facts and evidence by NHI. In the Yale codex the map of Mazaua shows a cross planted atop a hill located in the western part of the isle. (Fig. 2) This cross corroborates the testimony of Mafra that the port was west of Mazaua. The NHI willfully ignores the Yale codex, making pretense it does not exist. It does the same with Ms. fr. 5650 which contains Pigafetta’s testimony also found in the Nancy ms. that Mazaua had plenty of gold mines. “In this island there is a great quantity of...gold mines.” (Pigafettag 83, d 145, f 72) Limasawa has no gold mine and is not known to have any before. By willful ignorance NHI did not have to deal with these contrary facts.



The NHI report is replete with fallacious arguments, some so ill-informed as to raise doubts about its worth and if it should be taken seriously at all. Let us take the issue of Limasawa’s shoreline being too deep to afford anchorage plus the fact east Limasawa is a lee shore and therefore there is no way for a sailing ship to anchor there. Here is how NHI meets these problems: “The Panel cannot discount the possibility of Limasawa being able to then provide the kind of anchorage necessary for Magellan’s ships. Given the reality that Magellan was a first timer/new-comer when he sailed into Philippine shores in 1521, he could not have anticipated up front which island had adequate anchorage for ships. There is logic in assuming that he anchored his fleet in whatever island he touched at…” This is akin to saying if a man did not know of the law of gravity, his ignorance will save him if he jumped from the top of the Petronas Twin Towers. This assertion also contains the fallacy of the hypostatized proof. NHI theorizes Limasawa could have been different in 1521, it then reifies this and thus is able to see Magellan anchoring in east Limasawa.



Its handling of the latitude issue gives us an insight into the style of the panel, style defined by Alfred North Whitehead as the “ultimate morality of the mind.” The NHI declares: “Parenthetically, while it may be true, as alleged by the pro-Masaoans, that there is no island found exactly at latitude 9 degrees and 40 minutes N, which is the equivalent of Mazaua’s latitude as translated by Robertson, such latitude is closer to and approximates Limasawa which is 9 degrees and 55 minutes N than to Masao, Butuan which is 9 degrees and 00 minutes N (according to a Philippine Gazetteer).” After affirming Pigafetta’s latitude refers to Limasawa, it adds: “At this juncture, a word of caution is in order. Admittedly, the navigational instruments used by Magellan’s men at that time were primitive and, hence, not accurate in plotting locations at sea, particularly in determining latitude. It is safe to assume then that the delineation of distances and plotting of positions and location made by Pigafetta, Albo, et al. might well have been inaccurate or imprecise, or that Pigafetta, et al. were not beyond erring in giving latitudes. At best, these delineations should be taken as mere estimates or approximations.” (Gancayco 14)

David Hackett Fischer calls this the fallacy of the double-reversing generalization. “It is a species of bet-hedging, which in an extreme form becomes no interpretation at all but a maze of mutual qualifications or a cunning balance of casuistical contradictions, or a trackless wilderness of pettifogging detail, or a slippery ooze of substantive (as well as semantical) shilly-shally.” (Fischer 125)



Suppressio veri, assertio falsi


It is hard to imagine the dismissal of Mafra, the snub on the Yale codex, Ms. fr. 5650, the London copy of Albo, and the brushing aside of the Coast Pilot are due to inattention rather than willful ignorance. The net effect of NHI’s action is to affirm the maxim, “The suppression of truth is an assertion of falsehood.”



What NHI hopes to gain by this is unclear. Its cavalier attitude is counterproductive. Ironically in a lefthanded way NHI actually affirms the proposition Limasawa is not Mazaua by refusing to face head on the evidence that nullify Limasawa. If Limasaua and Mazaua are identical there should be no reason not to deal with contrary evidence.



What prompted NHI to behave as it did may be difficult to know but not impossible to explain. Its chief officer at the time, who presided over panel discussions, was one of the key ghostwriters of Ferdinand Marcos’ historical works. In the NHI panel, as far as I can tell, he is the only one with ties to the Marcoses. Very likely the patroness of the Limasawa hypothesis had reached out to the panel through the NHI’s chairman.



Where Then Is Mazaua Today?


The first clue to Mazaua’s identity is obvious. The word Mazaua is found in only one of 80 languages and dialects in the archipelago. In Butuanon it means bright or light. This meaning is clear from the Vicentine diarist’s description of the landfall, “...as we had seen a fire on an island [Mazaua] the night before, we anchored near it.” The light amidst the blackness of night is reminiscent of Columbus’ first landfall; the Genoese mariner claimed he saw a light from the incredible distance of 35 miles.



Butuanon is a dying tongue; the generation after mine no longer speak it. But those who still speak it will invariably use the word “masawa” in the course of the day. When the moon is bright, the Butuanon will say, “Masawa ang buwan.” Or, a well-lighted street will be described by the Butuanon as, “Masawa ang dan.”



If a line were drawn under every piece of evidence and extended, these will all intersect at 90 N, the Genoese Pilot’s latitude. This spot is in Mindanao, to be precise in Butuan where Ramusio, by a mystifying error, located the events of March 28-April 4, 1521. It is 45 n.m. below Mafra’s Butuan, today’s Surigao. West of this spot is an excellent port, in a weather or protected shore. Here there are two hills, Pinamangculan and Dalindingan, just as there are two shown in Pigafetta’s map. Facing the hills are rice fields and gently rolling farms devoted to other crops, e.g., coconuts and fruit trees. The area is famous for gold and gold mines; even today, illegal gold panning is still going on although on a much smaller scale ever since the government tightened the ban against it. Stilt houses are a common sight as flooding is recurrent. Wild game, e.g., deer, wild pig, civet, crocodile, used to be plentiful here.



That Mazaua was in Mindanao, as earlier discussed, was suggested by Pigafetta in his geographical picture of Chippit, a port in Zamboanga: “That part of the island [Chippit] is one and the same land with Butuan and Calaghan, and lies toward Bohol, and borders on Mazzaua.” (Pigafettaf 95) This correlates positively with Mafra’s location of Mazaua at 45 n.m. below Surigao.

If all the hallmarks of Mazaua are found in 90 N, one big problem looms large to nullify the notion Mazaua was here. No isle can be seen!



Digging For Truth


But where the historiographer and geographer see nothing the archaeologist and geomorphologist may discern a buried fact. In 1986 27 ASEAN archaeologists, geologists and geomorphologists were poking around sites in Butuan where buried wooden boats, the balanghais, have been dug. In the Mazaua episode Pigafetta mention the balanghais many times. By accident the scientists discovered a graben had split Butuan in the past (Asean 28) probably creating an isle that I theorize was the Mazaua of 1521. But since the scientists were concerned with the balanghais, they did not study the graben in great detail.



At this point, the work of historiography is essentially complete. Discovering the whole truth of Mazaua will be the work of archaeologists, geologists and geomorphologists. They should be able to determine if the graben did create an authentic isle surrounded by seawater and if it still existed in 1521 and 1543, the year Mafra came on his second visit. The Butuan City government has decided to commission a team of scientists to look for the isle and find out when it got buried. Anytime this year work will commence.



No one knows what these scientists will find. It is possible, given all the luck, they will chance upon remnants of Magellan’s visit and Mafra’s second visit: beads, swords, scabbards, nails, helmets, etc. which will validate the Mazaua hypothesis. Hopefully they will also determine the graben had not been covered thus sustaining the argument it did create an isle.



If at the end these scientists shall recover Mazaua, they would have affirmed a geographical paradox of the Age of Exploration: Magellan’s second landfall is where it was not. This all started with a translator’s treachery to the text of Pigafetta’s account—a mistake not open to easy explanation. But to the mystical minded, and perhaps there is something of that in all of us when faced with a puzzle like Mazaua, a hidden hand had pushed Ramusio to stumble scraping the vestiges of a great truth buried by time, tide, sand and the mind’s obscured understanding.



Bibliography



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Redondo, Felipe y Sendino. 1886. Breve reseña de lo que fue y de lo que es la diócesis de Cebu. Manila.

Reyes, Isabelo de los. 1889. Las islas Visayas in la epoca de la conquista. Manila.

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Sanchez, Adolfo Busa. 1977. 1521 (Li)Masawa? Butuan City.

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Schreurs, Peter. 1996. “The Search for Pigafetta’s ‘Mazaua’.” Kinaadman 18. Cag. de Oro: Pp. 1-98.

Schumacher, John. N. 1981. “The First Mass in the Philippines,” Kasaysayan 6, Pp. 8-19.

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Tavera, T.H. Pardo de. 1921. “El viaje de Magallanes.” In: Celebracion del Cuarto Centenario del descubrimiento de Filipinas por Fernando de Magallanes, 1521-1921. Manila. Pp. 83-103.

Torodash, Martin. 1971. “Magellan Historiography.” In: Hispanic American Historical Review, LI, Pp. 313-335.

Tuchman, Barbara. 1984. The March of Folly. New York.

Zuñiga, Joaquin Martinez de. 1800. Estadismo de las Islas Filipinas. W.E. Retana (ed. and annotation). Madrid 1893.

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The author was speechwriter to a number of Filipino public figures among these the late UNFPA Director and UN Undersecretary Rafael M. Salas when he was Executive Secretary of the Philippines, Agriculture Minister Arturo R. Tanco, Senator Heherson T. Alvarez. He is recipient of the Presidential Golden Plow Award, one of the highest decorations of the Philippine Republic. He has lectured on development communication in the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Jamaica, Pakistan, Germany, and the U.S. He was commissioned by the government of Butuan City, Mindanao in the Philippines to do extensive research on the Mazaua landfall issue.

Brief Chronology Of How Mazaua (Magellan’s Port) Became Limasawa (Isle Without Anchorage) (http://members.tripod.com/philipppines/mazauatime.htm)

Butuan: A city of over 1,677 years of history

By Jojo C. Acaso - Manila Times

BUTUAN CITY—Having a history and a culture that date back to more than 1,000 years ago makes Butuan a fascinating city to visit.

Museums, festivals and most recently the geomorphological study of the lost island inferred to be the site of the controversial “First Mass” have made this city attractive to foreign tourists, who find the place an exciting source of cultural artifacts in Mindanao.

Butuan is strategically situated on the rich Agusan valley that sprawled across the famed Agusan river. Known for its very rich and colorful culture and history, the term “Butuan” is believed to have been derived from the sour fruit called “batuan,” which the early natives loved to eat.

The important thing to note is that the people here tried to draw up theories that appeared credible and beneficial in holding up the tide that could dislodge them from their rightful place in history.

As early as the 10th century, according to the Chinese Soong Shi, people from Butuan had established trading relations with the Kingdom of Champa in what is now South Vietnam.

By the 11th century, Butuan was the center of trade and commerce in the Philippines. The best evidence to prove this fact is the discovery of nine balanghais, or the famous Butuan boats, and other archaeological finds in the vicinity of Butuan City, particularly in Ambangan, Libertad, near the old El Rio de Butuan and Masao river.

This city has seen over 1,677 years of recorded history! This is the original site of the first Easter Mass on Philippine soil. Here, the present nurtures the past and vice-versa.

It has many historical sites to visit.

The Saint Joseph’s Cathedal is the principal church in the diocese of Butuan. It was built by the Dutch missionaries in 1951, at the site where the 1878 Spanish Jesuits Church of the parish stood.

The Agustinian Recollect friars built this banyan stone church in 1625, but Moro pirates reduced it into ashes in 1753. The remains of the church are its campanario, or bell tower.

The Butuan diocesan museum serves as the repository of religious patrimony and liturgico-spiritual heritage of the historic diocese. Known as the first ecclesiastical museum in Mindanao, this showcases church items ranging from antique statues, documents, bells, vestments, chalices, relics of saints, missals, bibles, hymnals and other church paraphernalia that are rare these days.

Its latest acquisition from the Vatican is the white zucchetto (skull cap) of Pope John Paul II.

The national shrine of the Philippine flag in Mindanao was built to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the formal raising of the flag at its actual site in Mindanao. The giant flag stays hoisted on its flagpole day and night.

The site of the first Mass marker is controversial. Gov. Jose Maria Carvallo caused in 1872 the erection of this marker by the bank of the Agusan river at Butuan’s former poblacion in Baug, known today as the town of Magallanes.

In 1905, history changed its course when the Americans favored Limasawa as the site. With this background Philippine Congress legislated an error in history when it catapulted Limasawa to the fore, courtesy of the ever- controversial R.A. 2733 of 1950.

Another Butuan’s historic site is the Sto. Niño diocesan shrine. The bishop of Butuan declared this parish church of Libertad a diocesan shrine during the Jubilee Year 2000. The devotion to the Sto. Niño in the diocese has since increased yearly.
-- PNA Features

Butuan: A city of over 1,677 years of history (http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2004/jun/17/yehey/opinion/20040617opi8.html)

just a comment to your city slogan.

"In the beginning there was no Philippines but there was Butuan."

Many cities were villages before Spain came to colonize and unite the whole country under the name "Filipinas".

Maynilad existed. Sugbu existed. Banawe, Kuta Wato, Balayan (Batangas), etc.

It's not unique to Butuan. :)

But in terms of oldest (according to archeological finds), MAYBE Butuan may hold that distinction. But the Laguna Copperplate, Batangas ceramics and alibata, Ifugao anitos and caskets, handicrafts, Marawi 'sarimanok'. etc.. are not behind.

@manileno: Is Kuta Wato, COTABATO? :)

you got it. :)

according to some records, the Pre Hispanic Philippines has several self sustaining trading areas.

among them is Butuan in Mindanao; Zzubu/ Zugbu / Cubu now Cebu in Visayas and Maynilad in Luzon.

The reason of decline of some of the economic activities of some of these areas upon the arrival of the Spaniards are even stated in Rizals early essays "The Indolence of the Filipinos".

Butuan's economic activity reached its peak 500 years before the Spniards came. It was due to decline of the Siri Vidjaya Empire in old Indonesia (Butuan's trading partner).

There are many pockets of communities in the country before Spaniards came but these 3 areas have reached a zenith somehow in time.

Thanks for these infos. ;)

Mazaua: Magellan’s Lost Harbor this is so damn long :D

thats a looong 2000 year history :) hope it did not hurt your eyes reading thru it.

New cultural find in Butuan
By Antonio J. Montalvan - Philippine Daily Inquirer

THE MAN is a law unto himself. That is probably one of the worst that can be said of anyone, let alone a government official aspiring to become a member of the Philippine Senate. That was probably the most scathing remark yet made about senatorial candidate Dick Gordon in the uproar over the Lapu-Lapu statue recently put up at Rizal Park.

Gordon has since answered the charges made against him by Inquirer columnist Ambeth Ocampo, who is also the chair of the National Historical Institute. But the fact remains that a law of the land, in this case Presidential Decree 1505, remains such until otherwise repealed or amended, a detail that must not escape any senatorial candidate.


Gordon probably timed the installation of the controversial statue for his Senate try. But what perfect timing as well that this has to happen when Filipino voters must discern the actuations of government officials, who after allegedly breaking the law, aspire to become lawmakers. But what the heck, our elections are a carnival anyway, and with all the political prostituting going on, nothing shocks us anymore.

Heritage advocates, and Gordon for that matter, can take note, however, that there are bright spots in heritage advocacy, and that happens only when local governments follow the law on heritage protection.

Missing the eye of our election-fixated media was a recent prehistoric find in Butuan City that, as is usual for heritage-rich Butuan, sets another paradigm for close private sector and government collaboration.

The Bonbon Shell Midden is a mound of shells running up to two meters deep occupying an area of about half a hectare in Barangay Bonbon, Butuan City. Not far from it is another mound, although smaller. At the moment, materials found in the site are undergoing radiocarbon dating analysis in Japan. But National Museum archaeologists who recently made an in-depth study of the site are of the tentative prognosis that the materials go back to Late Stone Age. That effectively pushes back in time the cultural chronology of Butuan's early settlement, and eventually alters data on Philippine history. It is thus an exciting find.

The precious find, however, stands in the way of "progress" for those who wish to make it appear that development and culture are in conflict with each other, that one must give way to the other. The planned Butuan circumferential road, which is already in the final planning stages, will pass right through this Midden site.

When the Butuan Historical and Cultural Foundation sounded the alarm of the possible mutilation of Midden, the city government promptly communicated its concern to the engineering team of Nippon Koei. And with funding from the city government--how fortunate Butuan's historians are!--the foundation called in the National Museum to do the test drills. With the archaeological work now completed, and the road design altered to save Midden, the danger of its destruction has passed, but "just in time," says Butuan historian Greg Hontiveros, whose landmark publication, "Butuan of a Thousand Years," will soon be out on the book shelves.

The National Museum team found out that the site is not a natural formation. Aside from freshwater and brackish shells, the excavations yielded stone flake tools that bore traces of human interventions, including deposits of human and animal bones. At the moment, two human tibiae (long bones of the arms) and parts of the hand are in Japan for C-14 analysis.

Our good news from Butuan doesn't end with the diversion of the road and the museum's findings. The city is soon to inaugurate its new City Library building where the local government and Rep. Leovigildo Banaag have assigned a room for the planned Butuan Historical Studies Center.

The center will house a collection of books and research materials that will surely be useful to visiting scholars and researchers. Already, the initial volumes include the private research materials of Vic de Jesus on the Magellan expedition which are all sourced from abroad. Also from European libraries and archives are Spanish documents gathered by Fr. Joesilo Amalia, and some out-of-print books which have significant data on Butuan. The library will also contain studies on Butuan done these last three years, including the geomorphological study of the Butuan delta. There will also be copies of all archaeological studies of Butuan and other Mindanao sites.

As one can see, it is not only Butuan's prolific historians who are setting the example here, but also local government officials appreciating highly the valuable contribution of heritage education to the development of people. True, the officials are only doing their duty, but with the numerous violations by some government people (encouraged by the apathy of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from whom, after being sounded out on the Luneta misadventure, not a whimper was heard), Butuan's example puts many to shame.

"Tourism means jobs. Maraming trabaho para sa Pilipino." Those campaign slogans are true. But development must not only be all economics. Culture can be a powerful partner to economics and hence, can energize development efforts. What better development there can be than Filipinos having better education on and understanding of their own identity and heritage? Culture is as essential to people as food and jobs are.

How we wish there is such a thing as a heritage vote in the coming elections. Wow Butuan!
New cultural find in Butuan (http://www.inq7.net/opi/2004/feb/16/opi_kris-1.htm)

http://home.iae.nl/users/piepenbr/fotodagboek/foto54-3.jpg

Magsaysay Bridge, night views

http://home.iae.nl/users/piepenbr/butuan/moving.gif
http://pic13.picturetrail.com/VOL473/4138906/8638500/117580473.jpg

nice pics & info of butuan I never thought butuan is very beautiful even though I was born & lived shortly in cabadbaran

Booming Business Confidence in Butuan City


by Robert E. Roperos, Abner M. Caga

Butuan City -- "The risk of doing business may be applicable only in Manila with the political crisis confronting the country at present".

This is the reaction of National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Caraga Regional Director Carmencita Cochingco in an interview with PIA-Caraga on the result of the study conducted by Asian Development Bank (ADB) on issue of the high risks of doing business in the Philippines leading to a sharp drop in foreign direct investment in the Southeast Asian country in recent years.

Cochingco added that since Manila is not the Philippines, the cause of the risk is not really felt here in the region because of the stable local governments who see to it that peace and order security is very stable.

"I believe that the donor community here in Caraga is very confident to implement projects. Foreign donors are also coming in as well as the World Bank expanding its assistance in our rural roads", Cochingco further said.

Cochingco also said that new constructions, business establishments and a lot of economic activities are already existing and expanding here. From the economic point of view, she added that additional investments must be given priority such as the formation of the capital goods that include plants and factories, instead of the consumer goods, "...but at the same time, it's also an indication that there is enough business confidence since a lot of businessmen are already putting up business", Cochingco said.

Meanwhile, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said that the Philippines is determined to stamp out the risks of doing business by strong fiscal measures, macroeconomic stability and strategic political reforms. Bunye added that our government's revenue program is on tracking and holding up confidence.

"We are building infrastructure systems that would further attract investors to create more jobs and sustain the improving employment rate. As we cross the threshold of the second phase of our economic reform agenda, we are bringing into line the much-needed reforms in our political system that will reduce perennial political turmoil, further empower the people and enliven enterprise", Bunye said.

Bunye further stressed that we are at the verge of economic takeoff driven by an emerging sense of national unity behind change and reform. (PIA-Caraga)

http://home.iae.nl/users/piepenbr/butuan/moving.gif
http://pic13.picturetrail.com/VOL473/4138906/8638500/117580473.jpg
what is the name of that bridge in the pic?? how long is it??

hello Chymera

thats the first Magsaysay Bridge, it spans the narrowest portion of Agusan River. Its a steel arch type bridge built during President Magsaysay's term.
If I havent mistaken its about 300 meters + from foot to foot.

does butuan have any building or any structure that is spanish oriented?

some of the few old ancestral houses are within the old Agao district where colonial inspired homes still stand...but most of them are unfortunately demolished over the years to give way to newer structures....and some are left unpreserved and neglected. (sigh)

http://www.thelandofpromise.com/agusannorte/ninochurch-IMG_5385.jpg
Santo Nino Shrine in Libertad, Butuan City

does butuan have any building or any structure that is spanish oriented?

http://www.thelandofpromise.com/agusannorte/ninochurch-IMG_5385.jpg
Santo Nino Shrine in Libertad, Butuan City
Thnx for the info

From BUTUAN CITY ~ to your city


MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!

http://www.econline.co.za/tree_6.gif http://www.econline.co.za/santa_8.gif http://www.econline.co.za/tree_4.gif http://www.econline.co.za/dove.gif

Go Butuan! keep up the good work & you will be the best city in Mindanao:cheer::cheer::cheer::cheer::cheer:

BUTUAN and Environs

TUBAY MOUNTAIN BEACH RESORT

http://mishilo.image.pbase.com/u10/tekgik/upload/2274181.TubayMountainBeachResort4970.jpg
http://mk31.image.pbase.com/u10/tekgik/upload/2274179.TubayMountainBeachResort4966.jpg
http://mk31.image.pbase.com/u10/tekgik/upload/2274199.TubayMountainBeachResort4994.jpg
http://k43.pbase.com/u10/tekgik/upload/2274182.TubayMountainBeachResort4971.jpg
http://mk29.image.pbase.com/u10/tekgik/upload/2274188.TubayMountainBeachResort4978.jpg
http://mishami.image.pbase.com/u10/tekgik/upload/2274184.TubayMountainBeachResort4973.jpg
http://misheli.image.pbase.com/u10/tekgik/upload/2274193.TubayMountainBeachResort4984.jpg BUTUAN BAY
http://k43.pbase.com/u10/tekgik/upload/2274195.TubayMountainBeachResort4987.jpg
http://mishuna.image.pbase.com/u10/tekgik/upload/2274200.TubayMountainBeachResort4995.jpg
http://mishami.image.pbase.com/u10/tekgik/upload/2274194.TubayMountainBeachResort4986.jpg
http://mishilo.image.pbase.com/u10/tekgik/upload/2274201.TubayMountainBeachResort4996.jpg

^boy anong nangyari

:cheers2: butuan, I've heard so much about that city, my dad's an economist and he told me that place is one of the bright spots of the nation, I wish I could visit one day, since I've been traveling for a long time around.

nice work boybleauxx..

By the way can you please inform me how much is a replica of the Golden Tara of Agusan? and where I can buy it?

a friend of mine once gave me a statue of the Golden Tara pero kaso nabasag.... I think it's just made of clay so hindi cguro mahal?

meron din ba Golden Tara made of bronze or metal?


Butuan is such a nice city and it has all the opportunities to become one of the Philippines' best... Based on the picture posted by boybleuxx, I think the city officials should start to establish "linear parks" along the Agusan River... That will very much become an attraction.. They should also not allow factories and other houses to pollute the river... :)

http://pic15.picturetrail.com/VOL598/4010615/8325506/111622955.jpg

arnoldsa:

Golden Tara is available at "Hinang Karaga" shop along JC Aquino Avenue.

I havent gotten their contact number yet but I will try looking for their contact info.

nice work boybleauxx..

Butuan is such a nice city and it has all the opportunities to become one of the Philippines' best... Based on the picture posted by boybleuxx, I think the city officials should start to establish "linear parks" along the Agusan River... That will very much become an attraction.. They should also not allow factories and other houses to pollute the river... :)

Last year the city development council has tapped the expertise of one of the country's top urban planners. Palafox Associates in partnership with city's Urban Renewal Plan and Urban Expansion Plan have come up with a design that will pave the way for a modern riverside metropolis of the future.

This future metropolis will be a conglomeration of a seaport-industrial town that will rise with the construction of Masao International Port and Butuan Inland Port in the north; the Newtown in the east; the development of the Uptown in the west and the creation of the Civic Center in the present CBD.

The city with its limited resources have come up with novel fund sourcing such as bond flotation schemes to finance these landmark projects.





Thursday, December 01, 2005

Caraga's infra geared for tourism
By Ben Serrano
Caraga correspondent- Sun Star Daily

BUTUAN CITY -- What do Rome's coliseum, Paris' Eiffel tower, and England's London Bridge have in common? They are now known worldwide as "tourist spots or attractions."

If plans don't miscarry, the government is planning to make scenic infrastructures in Caraga Region.

These include projects like the P557 million Proposed Magsaysay Viaduct funded by Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), the P 1.9-B Magsaysay Bridge and by-pass roads funded under the 23rd Yen Loan also of the JBIC and the floodwall projects of the Lower-Agusan Development Project.

Engineer Philip Nuñez, Project Manager of the Cotabato-Agusan River Basin Development Project (CARDBP) Project Management Office and Engineer Romeo S. Momo, DPWH-Caraga Regional Director said these projects would be landmarks of infrastructure development in Caraga Region.

They said these would not only spur economic progress but would also be a "tourist spots" because of its exceptional structures.

Nuñez and Momo said the high impact projects such as Butuan's second bridge, Viaduct and the floodwall projects of the Department of Public Work and Highways (DPWH) would attract local and foreign tourists and local residents.

Nuñez said streetlights in viaducts and in flood control, dam-like structures would be installed wherein park-type benches for park goers and those who wanted to enjoy watching scenic Butuan Bay and Agusan River.

He added the nearly five kilometer stretch dam of the flood control gateway in opposite sides of the Agusan River would have a "walkers avenue" wherein juggers or early morning runners can enjoy.

"A café, tent, food stores or waiting shed areas would also be installed within the huge flood control structures where park goers or plain viewers can easily buy food, chat, relax and sit to make their river watching a total enjoyable one", Nuñez said.

He said the structures would not only protect residents from floods but would also give residents, local and foreign tourists alike a chance to enjoy river and bay watching and to breathe fresh air with families and friends.

what does "Butuan" mean by the way? What's the origin?

what does "Butuan" mean by the way? What's the origin?

hello Manileno:

as to where Butuan derived its name is still not clear. Hope this article below will help explain.

Located at the Northeastern part of Agusan Valley sprawling accross the Agusan River is BUTUAN City, known for its colorful history and culture. Butuan is believed to have originated from the sour fruit "Batuan". Others opined, it came from a certain "Datu Buntuan", a chieftain who once ruled Butuan. Scholars believed, it came from the word "But-an", which means a person whoa has a sound and discerning position. Whichever theories appear credible depends on the kind of people residing in Butuan, for whatever is said about them, Butuan continues to live on.

Butuan's history, culture, arts and people date back to the 4th century as showcased in museums makes butuan an exciting source of cultural artifacts in Mindanao.

As early as the 10th century, according to the chinese song shi (history), people from Butuan have already established trading relations with the kingdom of Champa which is now South Vietnam.

By the 11th century, Butuan was the center of Trade and commerce in the Philippines. The best evidence to prove this fact is the discovery of 9 balanghays (The Butuan Boat) and other archaeological finds in the vicinities of Butuan City, particularly in Ambangan, Libertad near the old EL RJO de BUTUAN and MASAO River.

i see. thanks for the info!

how do you pronounce it though? like Butúan or Butuán?

i see. thanks for the info!

how do you pronounce it though? like Butúan or Butuán?

BUTUAN is pronounced as But-wan

i see. thanks for the info!

how do you pronounce it though? like Butúan or Butuán?

BUTUAN is pronounced as But-wan

http://p.vtourist.com/1865414-Travel_Picture-Lawig_Balanghai.jpg
Lawig Balanghai

There was an account that the first mass in the Philippines was held in Masao, Butuan and not in Limasawa.. Based on Pigafetta's chronicles, he described the place as "agriculturally abundant" and inhabited by people.. But Limasawa is not -- it's more of a barren island..

I forgot my book again.. I'm addicted with history kasi.. I'll research again...

arnoldsa:

there's this new book just released last year by Ateneo de Manila University Press, entitled "Butuan of a Thousand Years" written by Greg Hontiveros

http://www.pinoy-newmexico.com/sitebuilder/images/Butuan-235x365.jpg

the back cover portion has a prologue which read as:

" Looking as historiography as a journey of understanding, the author has outlined a thousand year-stretch for Butuan's past. The book's title expresses a facet of the place's rich history when the toponym Butuan was first recorded in the Sung annals.

This ancient harbour, situated on a broad delta,played host to a vigorous exchange of native exports of gold,beeswax and civet,for ceramics,iron and copper items and fabrics. At its peak, it sent five tribute missions to the Chinese Empire to request for a direct trading status. But cultural exchanges also left its mark on the people's psyche; for instance, Indian spiritual concepts became embedded in the people's language and world view. The book also essays its decline and the subsequent rise of other trading polities in the archipelago....."


there is also another book by father James Bernad entitled "Butuan or Limasawa" now available at De La Sale University Press

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

what sparked this claim is the discovery of the balanghais in the early seventies when the city undertook a massive drainage construction project; when the engineers of the project accidentaly unearthed these ancient boats, samples were sent by the National Museum to Japan for carbon dating and was found to date to as early as 1000 AD. From then on, the barangays of Masao, Ambangan, Libertad, Pinamangculan, Ambago, Bangcasi have become treasure-hunters haven as other ancient artifacts ranging from Chinese, Hindic (Indian), Javanese, Sumatran, Khmer, and Thai along with gold relics of jewelry and other native wares portraying evidences of early heavy trading between Butuan and other Asiatic and Indo-Malayan empires.

No other place in this country has such quantities of unearthed artifacts of international variety over a very wide archeological territory, containing relics of wide carbon-ages ranging for centuries apart.

http://www.lakbaypilipinas.com/images/bottom_panel_logo_lakbay.gif

BUTUAN TAX HOLIDAY and INVESTMENT INCENTIVES

http://www.philcom.ph/gov/butuan/images/trade.jpg http://www.philcom.ph/gov/butuan/images/logs.jpg

click link below

BUTUAN INVESTMENT and TAX HOLIDAYS (http://www.geocities.com/ton21987/spordinance.htm)

The article below taken from one of the Butuan-content forums, it described the current fast paced trend of urbanization that is going on in this dynamic southern city of Butuan.

Butuan, with its very strategic location, very stable peace and order situation, and with a very strong medium to long term physical and social infrastructure support system, has now become the most dynamic dark horse in progress and development this part of the Philippines.


The City Mayor of Butuan

by: Rufo-Tigs Tidalgo

The incredible vacation initiative catered eagerness to reconnect with our land of endearment. The beloved city was there to greet us warmly. From different parts of the world we came and enjoy the hospitality rendered by the town we once left behind. She offered what she ably mustered and with open arms welcomes back her children of lesser touch.

Our once little town changed. It's no longer a wayward place. Progress is indicative. It's visibly moving onward into a modern city. It has a long way to go yet, but the sign of the time is discernible. With its current trend, it may someday catch up with other major centers.

I contradicted strongly the point of view of an ex-congressman. He said that good government in city hall is only a good idea and this progress we are seeing today are not really humanly induced but basically a routine process of normal evolution.

I too criticized city hall from left right and center. But what I witnessed recently would imply injustice on one's leadership to be denied credit where credit is due. The squatters by the banks of the river are gone. South side from the bridge, green foliage starts to replace the once eyesore of the city. Shanties are also demolished at the north side.

One compassionate characteristic of the squatter's issue is the fact that the squatters are not just bulldozed away to nowhere. They are all relocated to safe and more comfortable dwellings. I was with Lodring Bismanus, the city-housing boss with his engineers in Pagatpatan. They showed me where they moved the squatters. The city acquired 82 hectares of land and presently 352 separate housing units are built and counting. Some units are already occupied.

I was at city hall with Roging Rosales and Eddie Tidalgo. We were treated well at the mayor's office. Our visit coincided with the mayor's forum mostly with delegates from the media. There were accusations of corruption. But all these were the same vindicated issues of long ago. Maybe the media couldn't find recent improprieties that they just kept on repeating the already resolved archaic ones over and over again. It was boring and redundant.

What amazed me was the mayor's courageous move to put his architectural designs of what he'll do during his current term of office. It's normal for any politician to make promises. But it's unusual for one to put definite dates of completion for this may somehow compromise a political career.

But the mayor did it. Most of these commitments are big items like the 12,000-seat coliseum in Baan, renovation and expansion of Rizal Park, the Buud Promontory and the International Port in Mazaua. All these have dates to finish except the International Port wherein national funding is required. Lately however, the International Port project was open to bidding.

I keep wondering if our mayor could really build his dream on time. There is nothing concrete to base on but on what did transpire. Well, the construction of city hall building is finished. Then we just inaugurated the city library. The construction of the new bridge is on going and so with the flood control project. The irrigation system is about completed and the squatter issue by the riverbank is resolved.

This mayor has been lambasted negatively by the media. I too had nasty commentaries about the governance of our city and more so in the area of electoral practices. I adhere to all I said and apology is a far-reaching possibility. But there is one thing I missed about our mayor. I failed to understand the content of his heart. He is serious and totally centered on things he wants to accomplish. I have a feeling that he intends to write his legacy on tangible achievement.

There is no doubt that progress is already in the city. This is reflected outside and in the changing lifestyle of the inhabitants. The touch of class is in the mind of people. Commercial outlets that are still in the bakya crowd consumership could hardly compete with the sophistication of the flashy and glamorous establishments.

A noticeable change is also featured in the ambience and elegance of social assemblage and evening receptions. It has more quality now in style, fashion and manners. The refinement in behavior with the accouterment of graceful conduct is indicatory to a matured and robust community.

More than ever, charitable and civic organizations are needed. In the fangs of progress, the less equipped usually falls into the cracks. Our social safety net is hardly in place. This equates to unbearable suffering on the less fortunate.

This is where programs ought to be on focus. To reface and decorate a mountain and baptize trees to its scientific names by tagging it is undoubtedly a worthy project. But an endeavor overriding the disparate needs of hapless human beings, let alone our kababayan in our own city of affection evokes a premise that priority is going the wrong way.

The wheel of progress is on the march. Suffice to say that the city is in developing stage to entail improvement in the quality of living. This is seemingly risky when such transition to abundance turns out to be inaccurate or unsustainable. The city still contains fragility in the private sector. The main source of income is heavily resting on public payroll. Manufacturing industries has to be established.

We are in the threshold of an opportunity where when manage to fullest competency grant prosperity and tranquillity to the people. It is with ardent expectation that the hands at the helm carry the right attitude and aptitude to realize our hopes and aspiration. With our mayor and his people, Butuan is headed for glory.

This we trust.

http://pic13.picturetrail.com/VOL473/4138906/8638500/122128345.jpg
wires! wires!
can the senate or congress pass a law requiring phone,cable and electric companies in major cities to BURY their lines instead of exposing them in the air?

we can campaign for it right in our forum for starters.

Any updates on the Butuan Dome? Or any project at that?
Also, if I remember correctly, the Balangay, a famous archeological find is from Butuan right?

hi bulakenyo

the dome is in the planning stage as the city is in the works for fund sourcing. One of the means for fund sourcing will be bond flotation.

but I believe that in the order of priority, the city shall embark first with Masao Port project and the Airport expansion bago ang dome.

The Balanghai boats are discovered in sitio Ambangan, Libertad, Butuan City

^So Butuan is the oldest continously settled city in the Philippines?

I believe so Jef. :)



Pride of Place : Treasures from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas

First posted 08:07am (Mla time) Dec 19, 2005
By Augusto Villalon
Inquirer



Editor's Note: Published on page D1 of the December 19, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


TWO COFFEE-TABLE BOOKS published by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) documenting its extensive gold and painting collections are welcome additions to the meager printed records of our national patrimony.

"Ginto, History Wrought in Gold," written by Ramòn Villegas and photographed by Wig Tysmans, has won the Anvil and National Book Awards.

Villegas comprehensively catalogues the vast gold collection of the Central Bank. The collection was started by the Money Museum in the late 1970s to trace the evolution of Philippine currency. Since then it has grown into one of the most important gold collections in Asia.

Gold has always figured in Philippine history. Since ancient times, the Philippines has been an active gold producer, proven by the oldest piece in the collection, a gold bead from Palawan dating to approximately 700-500 BC. For most of the 20th century, the country topped gold production in Southeast Asia.

Butuan, writes Villegas, owed its existence to gold mined at the headwaters of Agusan River in the Diwata mountain range. The economic influence of the ancient settlement was great. It was where local merchants bartered gold for foreign goods.

Other goods recovered from Butuan-ceramics, glass beads, bronze-illustrate the extent of Butuan trade, all evidence of contact with China, Vietnam, and other Asian countries. As a result, it emerged as an urbanized port center and an entrep“t during the first millennium.

The high quality of the gold artifacts establish that our ancestors were not only adept at sourcing and mining the precious metal. They were also excellent craftsmen who worked and shaped the element into extremely fine objects for barter or body ornamentation.

One of the Philippines' most famous archaeological artifacts, the 20-cm high, 24-karat Gold Image of Agusan, now at the Field Museum in Chicago, resembles a Hindu goddess with an intricate headdress that links the gold tradition to Javanese or Indian influences, as eminent Philippine anthropologists believe.

Gold brought the early Philippines in contact with Asia.

Villegas traces Chinese records that say, "from the 10th and 13th centuries AD, diplomatic and trade missions from the Kingdom of Butuan were being received at the Imperial Court," proof that it was a flourishing international port and a settlement with an established civil structure that exercised governance over residents who would have included traders, craftsmen, and others who would have had religious and cultural activities as well.

Butuan declined in the 14th century for reasons still unknown today. By the time the Spanish arrived a few centuries later, its glory had gone. The splendor of the BSP's gold collection, now on permanent exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila, gives a good idea of the extent and quality of early Philippine gold production.

Important painting trove

The BSP is truly the repository of the nation's wealth. It is also the custodian of an important gold collection and probably the country's most important collection of paintings.

The painting collection is not accessible to the public, so the lavishly illustrated publication of the collection in "Tanaw: Perspectives on the Bangko Central ng Pilipinas Painting Collection" is the next best thing.

Ramon Lerma edits essays by Jaime Laya, Alice Guillermo, Cid Reyes, Ma. Victoria Herrera, and Fatima Lasay, who give their perspectives on the collection.

In "Progenitors of the Filipino Nation," Laya writes about portraiture, an art form where "we gain a better idea of the development of the Filipino nation. They [portraits] help us trace our roots and sharpen our sense of national identity."

Portraits from the 19th century to the present record costume, jewelry, furniture, and interior architecture changes. They also record history, inspire the viewers by capturing on canvas memories of heroes, presidents, clerics, businessmen, matriarchs and others who have shaped the nation physically or spiritually, as portraits of saints, mostly anonymously done, speak of rewards in the afterlife.

"The art of a country does not speak in unison but with many voices-as in the telling of a narrative from different points of view, concerns, and interests," writes Guillermo.

Guillermo illustrates her narrative with contrasting points of view, pastoral paintings from the 1850s, Amorsolo pastorals of the 1930s and Baldemor's Paete of the 1980s.

The narrative continues with different views of Philippine life, Tayag and Parial's takes on the Ati-Atihan, bloody flagellants and variations on the Mother and Child (either soft and tender or full of angst). The collection, indeed, tells the nation's story graphically.

Herrera examines Philippine imagery, from the religious to the mundane, from the bucolic countryside to the urban density of the city, investigating the layers of transparency in Joya and Zobel.

Guillermo's insight that an art collection narrates a story from many points of view is precisely what both publications bring out. They tell the story of the Philippines through two collections under the stewardship of the BSP.

The Philippine story is one of excellence, whether told by gold or paintings, as the collections do.

The books prove to the reluctant Filipino that he is the heir to rich traditions, that he no longer needs to be obsessed with looking outward to foreign shores for inspiration. Rather, he must look at his cultural legacy to rediscover his missing sense of national pride.

To order the books, call the BSP Corporate Affairs Office, 5247011 loc. 2377 or 5249534.

Feedback is welcome at afvillalon@hotmail.com.

Pride of Place : Treasures from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (http://news.inq7.net/lifestyle/index.php?index=2&story_id=60428&col=1)

DENR goes high-tech in Caraga logging watch
By Ben Serrano
The Philippine Star 12/19/2005

BUTUAN CITY — The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) recently deployed more units of the Trex Vista global positioning system (GPS) to allow foresters and land management personnel to better monitor squatting and the cutting of trees in timber lands.

The Trex Vista GPS is equipped with an electronic compass important in gathering data.

It also has a barometric altimeter with elevation and graphic profiles that provide altitude data to the GPS satellite tracking page when properly calibrated.

The barometric altimeter will accurately report elevations ranging from 2,000 to 30,000 feet

The GPS system, installed by the Natural Resources and Development Corp. (NDRC), the marketing arm of the DENR, will help field personnel closely monitor logging operations, especially in Agusan del Sur.

The NRDC funded the purchase of the equipment from the proceeds of the sale of more than 2,000 cubic meters of confiscated logs.

DENR regional director Benjamin Tumaliuan distributed the GPS units to community environment and natural resources officers (CENROs) in Agusan del Sur, led by provincial environment and natural resources officer (PENRO) Carlito Vertudez.

The intensified campaign launched early this year has gained headway with several confiscations of illegally cut logs and lumber towed along the Agusan River or transported in 20-footer vans.

"These GPS units will give more teeth to our campaign," Tumaliuan said.DENR goes high-tech in Caraga logging watch (http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200512199906.htm)

Tinuy-an Falls, Bislig
http://www.thelandofpromise.com/surigaosur/tinuyan-vert20mm-0228.jpg

Bislig, is readily accessible by bus, aircon vans and jeeps from Butuan. It is a coastal town facing the great Pacific Ocean.

The pristine beaches of Cagwait. Home of flour fine white beaches beackons for your sun and sand adventure.
http://www.thelandofpromise.com/surigaosur/waikiki-payong-hor-P6241609.jpg

from Butuan, hop-in to hourly buses and vans bound for Bislig and start heading to Cagwait!

http://www.thelandofpromise.com/agusansur/marsh-horizon-P6060261.jpg
The Philippines largest marshland, the Agusan Marsh of Agusan del Sur. Home to a wide variety of flora and fauna.

http://www.thelandofpromise.com/agusansur/marsh-noon-P6060243.jpg

http://www.thelandofpromise.com/agusansur/marsh-noon-P6060243.jpg


this is Butuan? WOW!! btw i seldom see pictures of parks in our cities threads. I think parks and green spaces should be present in all our cities, especially the newer ones (in Mindanao) and they should be big enough and right in the city centre so that more people will be attracted to settle and invest there. Anyway older cities like Cebu, Manila, Iloilo all failed in this green category (lack of planning) See how small Rizal Park is. I hope Mindanao cities learn from this and get a better plan (planning).

Manileno:

I must agree with you. Present urban planners must take into consideration wide open green spaces in the design of cities and towns. Especially in areas where buffer zones of transition in industrial zones and residential zones.
The "livability" and "quality of life" factors and not just haphazard construction should be the driving force in the future design of our cities.

Tinuy-an Falls, Bislig
http://www.thelandofpromise.com/surigaosur/tinuyan-vert20mm-0228.jpg

Bislig, is readily accessible by bus, aircon vans and jeeps from Butuan. It is a coastal town facing the great Pacific Ocean.

wow boy, this is really great! i remember a workmate had a photosafari in surigao and saw his shots of the falls. it was like a curtain, grand and really huge.

hello Paul

Yep, Bisliganons even call this local natural wonder as the "niagara Falls" of Mindanao.

here are some pics courtesy of Land of Promise and e-Butuan websites.

http://www.thelandofpromise.com/surigaosur/tinuyan-widerocky-0218.jpg

http://e-butuan.com/uploads/photos/16.jpg

http://e-butuan.com/uploads/photos/34.jpg

hello Paul

Yep, Bisliganons even call this local natural wonder as the "niagara Falls" of Mindanao.

here are some pics courtesy of Land of Promise and e-Butuan websites.

http://www.thelandofpromise.com/surigaosur/tinuyan-widerocky-0218.jpg

http://e-butuan.com/uploads/photos/16.jpg

P380-M Butuan Coliseum and P4-B International Port Projects unveiled
By Romy Sabaldan - SUNSTAR DAILY


BUTUAN City, where I spent the first two years of my life on earth, is the next big beneficiary of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's youth and sports infrastructure development.

Dino Claudio Moran Sanchez, city councilor of Butuan, hinges his hope on the sure-fire commitment of Arroyo to push through with the planned P380-million Butuan City Coliseum, which he said would greatly boost the city's sports consciousness.

If plans do not miscarry, the sports infrastructure is the next best thing that will happen in Butuan in sports after the city made its presence felt in badminton by becoming the consistent number one all throughout the country from 1996 to 2003, according to Sanchez.

Sanchez, scion of the pioneering clans that built Butuan City into what it is today advanced above information during our Christmas family reunion.

He said that like in Davao, badminton is also very popular in his place and is in fact one of the fastest growing sports disciplines in the Northeastern Mindanao area some 400 kilometers away from Davao City.

I am not surprised considering that one of our city's influential moving figures in the development of badminton is from Butuan. The guy is the unassuming Charlie Gonzalez, the one who built one of the city's modern badminton courts--the one along San Pedro Extension called Smash 'N Drop.

Charlie's taraflex floor-equipped courts has been the venue of several national badminton tournaments the latest of which was the one organized by Ronnie Go and Major Dado Suarez of the Philippine Military Academy Alumni Association (PMAAA).

The tournament even received direct support from Malacañang and has afforded the PMAers based in Davao City to participate in the development of sports in the city.

Going back to Councilor Sanchez. The young Butuan legislator said that the CARAGA region's biggest sports coliseum would house a modern basketball court that will double as a multi-purpose venue for different activities including concerts. It will have a seating capacity of some 12 thousand with an outdoor tennis courts.

The biggest project, however, that Arroyo will be showering Butuan will be the P4-B international port which will be named the Port Magellan if the Spanish government will make good its participation in the building of one of Mindanao's biggest ports of entry.

Such project relives Butuan City's age-old kinship in a commerce and trade with Spain through the famous voyager Ferdinand Magellan, who some historians claimed had actually landed first in Masau of Butuan and not Limasawa.

Good luck and God bless Butuan City.

Badminton Beat: 2006 will be the busiest year for badminton in the Philippines with three international championships in the offing--General Edgardo Aglipay

^^ I'm specifically excited about that!

where did boybleaux go?
i like his butuan pics...

P650-M airport expansion to make Butuan Airbus-ready


Davao City (29 December) -- Butuan City will soon be the recipient of a P650-M expansion project to open up its airport to international flights.

This was revealed today by Butuan City councilor Dino Claudio Moran Sanchez in an interview with the Philippine Information Agency based in Davao City.

He said the project aside from the planned Port of Magellan will rekindle the city's role as one of the major port of entries in Mindanao. Both projects, he said, will make Butuan City globally competitive.

The multi-million peso airport expansion project will allow the present Butuan City airport to receive international flights and the bigger Airbus planes. The project also includes the improvement of the airport terminal.

In the meantime, the Butuan City councilor also disclosed that the national government is now hiring consultants for the massive 4-billion peso Port of Magellan.

He said that the international port of entry will be named in honor of the famous voyager Ferdinand Magellan who discovered the Philippines in the 17th century on the condition that the Spanish government will push through with its counterpart funding.

Other projects that are being planned for Butuan by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo also includes the P380-M Butuan City coliseum, councilor Sanchez disclosed. (PIA-SP-RS) [top]
P650-M airport expansion to make Butuan Airbus-ready (http://www.pia.gov.ph/news.asp?fi=p051229.htm&no=4)

^great stuff :) coming to butuan

where did boybleaux go?
i like his butuan pics...

thanks Matt. More pics to come in the future :)

wow, i'm getting excited upon reading a few of Butuan's upcoming projects! :D can somebody post a list/compilation of Butuan Proposals and Under constructions? hopefully with renderings din! Thanks a bunch! :D

-Rusty™

thanks Matt. More pics to come in the future :)
The Future Is Now
hehehe

^^ :hilarious

I'll take photography lessons muna :runaway:

^^ I like the pic of the falls - much more scenic than Pagsanjan, I think.

Germany’s KfW sets release of feasibility studies on RP wind power projects

By Donnabelle L. Gatdula
The Philippine Star 01/04/2006

German export finance agency Kreditanstaldt fuer Wiederaufbau (KfW) is set to release next month the results of its feasibility studies on potential wind power projects in the country, a ranking energy official said.

"KfW studies will be out by February 2006 on Boracay, Nubenta and Pagudpud," PNOC-Energy Development Corp. (EDC) president Paul A. Aquino said.

EDC is planning to put up a wind power plant in Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte. Two more power facilities are being eyed in Boracay, Aklan and Nubenta in Surigao del Norte.

But the company has to wait for the results of the feasibility studies being financed by the German firm before pushing through with these projects.

The state-owned power development firm is also tapping the Spanish government to finance the feasibility studies for wind power projects in the islands of Camiguin, Siargao, Dinagat and Palawan.

By the second half of 2004, EDC will install meteorological masts in Northern Luzon, Occidental Mindoro and Surigao and will install masts in Sorsogon, Antique, and Butuan City.

In 1999, the Department of Energy (DOE) tapped EDC to undertake a showcase wind power project in Ilocos Norte to demonstrate the technical and economic viability of developing the Philippines wind resources for power generation.

With this mandate from DOE, EDC proceeded to secure the necessary permits approvals to construct a 42-megawatt (MW) wind farm in Burgos, Ilocos Norte. On May 2000, the first environmental compliance certificate for the construction of a wind farm was issued to EDC in a record time of three months.

In March 2002, EDC obtained financing in the form of a ¥5.8-billion soft loan from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) to develop wind power in the country.

The Philippines is located on the board of the Asia Pacific monsoonal belt and has good potential for wind power development. In 1994, a study conducted by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) estimated the Philippines’ wind power potential at about 250 MW.

The United States National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) prepared a wind resource analysis and mapping study of the Philippine archipelago identifying potential wind resource areas and estimating the value of the wind resource at 76,600 MW. The study however, did not take into consideration transmission grid accessibility constraints and other factors such as the absence or presence of access roads, usable powers and vegetative cover.

Recently, the University of the Philippines Solar Laboratory further rationalized the NREL study by screening the areas for viability in terms of wind power development.

The study limited potentially viable areas to those with power densities of at least 500 watts per square meter and an incremental transmission cost of not more than 25 percent of the projects investment cost. The application of these two criteria reduced the wind power development potential of the Philippines to a more realistic level of 7,400 MW.

There are, however, issues confronting the wind power development in the country such as the lack of appropriate funding; grid accessibility; interconnection problems caused by the intermittent nature of the resource; lack of technical, financial and legal expertise; bias towards conventional power sources; subsidized energy tariffs; lack of government policies and incentives favoring the development of wind power; and country’s location in the typhoon belt.
Germany’s KfW sets release of feasibility studies on RP wind power projects (http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200601040706.htm)

TransCo asset sale to raise P9.8B for government — DOE
By Donnabelle L. Gatdula
The Philippine Star 01/06/2006

The National Government expects to raise some P9.8 billion from the sale of the sub-transmission assets (STAs) of the National Transmission Corp. (TransCo), a Department of Energy (DOE) report showed.

The forecast proceeds from the sale of the STAS is significantly higher than TransCo’s previous estimate of P5 billion.

But TransCo officials explained the company would likely sell only P5 billion worth of assets despite the higher sales estimate of DOE.

"We made the (P5 billion) projection based on the assumption that there would likely be a lot of electric cooperatives (ECs) which are expected to buy the assets, but may not have the capability to buy these STAs due to financial problems," a TransCo official said.

The STAs involves a total of 7,500 circuit-kilometers of mostly 69-kv (kilovolt) transmission lines and 1,600 MVA (mega volt-amphere) of substation capacity, at cost.

Based on the DOE’s status report on the implementation of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (EPIRA), the sale of TransCo’s STAs involves around 120 sale packages that concern 115 interested distribution utilities (DUs), mostly electric cooperatives (ECs).

"Estimated cost of these assets is at P9.8 billion," the status report said.

Under the EPIRA, the DOE noted that the STAs will be operated and maintained by TransCo until their disposal to qualified DUs which are in position to take over the responsibility for operating, maintaining, upgrading, and expanding the assets.

As of end-December 2005, TransCo has already disposed of STAs worth P1.132 billion, equivalent to about 23 contracts signed with DUs and ECs since January 2004.

The EPIRA also states that all the sale contracts for STAs should be approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC). To date, the ERC has approved only three contracts.

TransCo is urging the ERC to approve the contracts saying proceeds from the sale of the STAs is considered "unfinished sales" because of the lack of approval.

Among the latest contracts signed by TransCo is the P86-million lease-purchase agreement with the Agusan del Norte Electric Cooperative (Aneco) and a cash purchase deal with the Dagupan Electric Corp. (Decorp).

Aneco will pay P58.85 million for 599 structures along the Butuan-Lumbocan, Butuan-Cabadbaran, and Cabadbaran-Santiago 69-kV lines spanning a total of 63 circuit kilometers. The 20-percent downpayment or P11.77 million would be due upon the contract’s approval by the ERC with the balance to be settled in 16 and a half years.

Decorp, on the other hand, will pay P27.34 million for 237 structures along the Labrador-Binmaley and Binmaley-Calasiao 69-kv lines spanning a total of 24 circuit kilometers. The private distribution utility will pay the amount in cash within ten calendar days after the ERC’s approval.

Both cooperatives will finance the purchase of TransCo’s STAs through loans from the Development Bank of the Phils. which offers lower interest rates.

The contract with Decorp is TransCo’s first sale contract with a distribution utility in Pangasinan and the seventh in Luzon.

With the wholesale electricity spot market (WESM) nearing commercial operations, TransCo president Alan T. Ortiz said electric coops and DUs have realized the importance of owning the sub-transmission lines.

Ortiz said that the key to lower power rates and the success of the WESM is the empowerment of the electric coops and DUs and crucial to this empowerment is the ownership of the sub-transmission lines so they can maximize their revenues.
TransCo asset sale to raise P9.8B for government — DOE (http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200601060704.htm)

http://p.vtourist.com/2437546-Butuan_City_Minicabs-Butuan_City.jpg

hey boy, i have friends with edcads, are they still around? the former director was lando, you know him?

I'll be going to butuan to see the Balanghay boats and the Golden Tara... :)

hey boy, i have friends with edcads, are they still around? the former director was lando, you know him?

Happy New Year Paul!

I think EDCADS is now incorporated to the Butuan Arts Council- an umbrella organization with partnership with NGOs and the local governemnt that seeks to promote the Butuan arts.
http://www.aspurios.8k.com/gif%20file/balanghai%20boat.png

http://p.vtourist.com/1151239-Hotel_Karaga-Butuan_City.jpg
Hotel Karaga, North Montilla Blvd.

I'll be going to butuan to see the Balanghay boats and the Golden Tara... :)

hello Arnoldsa:

you will be trekkking to this site:
http://p.vtourist.com/2437526-National_Museum_Butuan_City-Butuan_City.jpg

enjoy your stay!

http://p.vtourist.com/1151250-Come_to_Paradise_-Butuan_City.jpg

http://balanghai.com/images/54ahb/undak-undak/04.jpg
Undak-Undak Festival

http://balanghai.com/images/54ahb/undak-undak/03.jpg
http://balanghai.com/images/54ahb/undak-undak/13.jpg

^ what does undak-undak mean?

http://balanghai.com/images/54ahb/undak-undak/21.jpg
bikes!

^ what does undak-undak mean?

to jump (for joy) :)

ahh.. in tagalog: indak-indak. thnx

yep absolutely corect

hello Arnoldsa:

you will be trekkking to this site:
http://p.vtourist.com/2437526-National_Museum_Butuan_City-Butuan_City.jpg

enjoy your stay!

How about the real site of Magellan's landing? Masao I think..