Miguel López de Legázpi, founder of Manila

Why do I write about Miguel López de Legázpi?

The answer is simply, a reawakening. The lure of the world of business and its material rewards made me turn back on a course on humanities and liberal arts, and brought me instead to the profitable world of economics and finance. However, coming back to Spain as the envoy of the Philippines to this country, whose rich historical background includes several chapters on the Philippines, has reawakened in me that interest in humanities that had lain dormant for quite a long time. Miguel López de Legázpi triggered that awakening.

I had, in my sojourn in Spain, encountered my first true Renaissance man. Only he had lived 500 years ago and was intrinsically linked to the Philippines.

That most Filipinos should bear Spanish names, have more than 7,000 Spanish words in our national language, and that we are the only Catholic country in the Far East, does not just link us to Spain, it actually makes us part of the immense tapestry that this country has woven in its trajectory through the ages and through time. We are part of Spain, just as Spain is a part of the Philippines. This is a historical fact.

Miguel López de Legázpi (1503-1572)

In a visit to the north of Spain, the mayor of a small town, a gregarious, hospitable man, named Anton Arbulu, gave me an "abrazo" when he met me and said, "Embajador, from this small town we have contributed our single drop to the ocean of history. We gave the world, Miguel López de Legázpi!"

Records show that Miguel López de Legázpi was Spanish, of Basque origin, and was born in Guipuzcoa, along the Pyrenees, in a small town called Zumárraga, in 1503.

Legázpi’s fame only began in 1528 when he went to Mexico, then known as the Nueva España, where he went to discharge military and political duties. He became Mayor, then Governor, and there he married Isabel Garcés who gave him nine children. He was commissioned by the Spanish King Felipe II (then monarch of a vast and extensive empire that reached the shore of the Americas and the East) to journey to that archipelago in the distant Pacific shores previously conquered for Spain by Ferdinand de Magallanes and where earlier expeditions resulted only in failure to conquer the islands.

When Legázpi was designated as head of the expedition, he was already quite advanced in years, and was then widowed. He launched the voyage to the Pacific, not as a conqueror but as a man tempered by life’s experiences. He had been in love, was loved, had known pain and experienced loss. In his youth he voraciously took from life all that he could, and now was ready to give back in return. He had known power, was humbled by its volatility, and this led to a deep religiosity, coupled by a genuine humility, and a sense of duty, that he would bring with him till the end of his life.

While most expeditions were instructed to conquer with the 3 G’s as their goal — Gold, Glory and God (in that order) Legázpi told the members of his expedition that Glory for God was his main objective. This was evident when he named his 3 major vessels, San Juan, San Pedro, and San Pablo. Accompanying him was a fleet of 380 men — among them an Augustinian friar called Andrés de Urdaneta and his grandson Felipe de Salcedo. The colonization of the Philippines had begun another chapter in the life of this man, and a turning point in the history of our country.

It is the fifth centenary of the birth of Miguel López de Legázpi. In Spain he is known as the founder of Manila. There have been several conferences, regarding the founding of Manila, and a series of activities commemorating Miguel López de Legázpi, in Madrid and the Basque regions of Zumárraga and San Sebastian. The Spanish Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Ramón Gil-Casares, has spearheaded these conferences. Through the lectures and the interchange of ideas, as well as from the insights that Ramón Gil-Casares himself highlighted, and from the topics discussed in the series of talks on Legázpi, I started to visualize what the man, himself, may have been like. My personal encounter with Legázpi is the subject of this article.

Legázpi had as his main directive from the King, the conquest of what was known as "las tierras tagalas." If he experienced success where others failed, it is my opinion that, it was because he approached his entire expedition as one of brotherhood, rather than one of conquest.

Legázpi first landed in the island of Samar on Feb. 20, 1565 where he proclaimed the sovereignty of Spain over the entire islands. He later on proceeded to Bohol. The white men that came upon this shores may have threatened the native Filipinos. However, our history tells us that instead of drawing his sword, Legázpi cut his wrist and placed it against the brown, bleeding wrist of Rajah Sikatuna. Their skins differed, but their blood had no distinction of color. He may have said, "we are evidently brothers, let us seal this pact of brotherhood by mingling our blood as a covenant of respect and equality." The blood compact of Sikatuna and Legázpi set the tone of the Legázpi expedition.

To further punctuate the benevolence of the expedition, allow me to cite the documented insights of a Catalonian Jesuit friar named Francisco Colín, who focused on the marvels of the flora, and fauna of the islands. Roughly translated and condensed, the text concluded, "It seems God has provided generously for His people in these islands. They have all that they need to survive." He wrote of the congenial, happy disposition of the natives, and marveled at their joy because they knew no want. He stressed that God had lavished on them and that they were extremely contented.

Pilar Romero de Tejáda, directress of the Museo Nacional de Anthropología de Madrid, where the best anthropological artifacts of the Philippines, in the world, are housed and displayed, gave a most interesting talk. She quoted written documents that there existed in these islands, a culture of their own, a governmental hierarchy, a language, their own alphabet, their written texts, and an orderly symbiotic exchange between the different tribes. As Legázpi had focused on fraternity rather than force, the friars looked on our islands with different eyes and found in them an expression of God’s diversity, generosity and kindness. It is through their hand written account that we get a glimpse of our islands as the Spaniards found them.

However, we have chosen to document and speak of the wars, the conflict, the abuses and the inequality of treatment. Our history books are peppered by these. True, they did occur. Helas, the se are the folly of men, all men, white or brown. I have chosen however, to focus on the fact that nothing happens by chance. At that moment in time, there seemed to have been, a specific, divine plan for our country. Legázpi was to have been the instrument that was used to establish the Philippines as a strategic point of entry into Asia for the European crown. The Philippines went on to become a great trading mecca, where porcelain and silk from China, spices from the East, gems, silver and gold, all initiated their long arduous trips as they made their way to the Americas and onto Europe. Through the efforts of Miguel López de Legázpi, both Cebu and Manila, became great ports of embarkation, and disembarkation. Note as well, that the Friar, Andrés de Urdaneta went back to find a return route to Nueva España, (now Mexico), and thus was born the historic Galleon Trade bearing the name of Manila-Acapulco. For 250 years (1565-1815) — "one or two galleons sailed back and forth across the Pacific" and our capital city’s name was uttered in all centers of what were then the old and the new worlds of Europe and the Americas. All these would not have occurred, if both these men had not been motivated by a higher force. When his task was done, Miguel López de Legázpi died in Manila on August 20, 1572. He had lived a full and accomplished life. He lies buried in the church of San Augustine in Intramuros.

Javier Galván, the current director of the Instituto Cervantes in Manila, dared to say at the end of the talk he gave in the Basque capital of San Sebastian, in the course of the conference, "ya es tiempo de romper el silencio del olvido." (A beautiful phrase that does suffer with my translation)…"The time has come to break the silence that comes with forgetting." It was a challenge to Spain to remember that there exists in the distant Pacific, a chain of islands that is a part of Spain. Islands that bear the name of an illustrious Spanish King. Islands that they lost in the Spanish-American war, an event they would rather forget. Yet in these islands there remains a part of Spain forever. Always I have referred to the Philippines, as "un pedazo de España en el Oriente" (a part of Spain in the Orient), whenever I want to establish a link between Spain and the Philippines. So likewise, I venture to call on the Philippines to remember that there was a pact of brotherhood between a Filipino Rajah and a Spanish military man. To remember that we share many ties with Spain. That we are linked in more ways that we would like to admit. Being a Filipino nationalist does not mean a denial or a resentment of historical bonds. Just as having been colonized does not have to equate to bondage. See it rather, as it is — a link in the global context of a diminishing world. A commonality that is the celebration of all things that make us part of the global community —language, tradition, faith and ancestry. Only when we have once again revived the ties that bind us to Spain, and through them the European community, can this brotherhood bring forth an exchange of goodwill, trade and economic interchange. In the meantime, conferences, and events like those commemorating Miguel López de Legázpi fifth centennial will serve to revive a stirring, in each of us, as to the merits of reaching out and viewing the world as he did. Legázpi’s learned to listen to an inner voice that molded, crafted and made him into how history recalls him now…a singular Basque, a global Spaniard, a man for all seasons, a man in tune with his time and in tune with God. He was, indeed, truly, a Renaissance man.

(Editor’s note: The Spanish Cultural Exhibit commemorating 500 years of Legázpi will open at the National Museum starting February 24, 2004)