5th birth centennial of Miguel Lopez de Legazpi

Miguel Lopez de Legazpi was the Spaniard who turned old Maynilad into the City of Manila. He was the first governor of the Philippines. No one knows the date of his birth. It is assumed that he was born in the early part of the sixteenth century and this year his birth centennial is being observed in Spain, Mexico and the Philippines. Legazpi took possession of Manila on May 19, 1571 and started converting it into the nation’s capital on June 3, of the same year. This explains why his centennial is being observed in this month. He didn’t live long for he died the following year, August 20, 1572. His remains were later transferred to San Agustin Church in Intra-muros. This accounts for why the local center of his fifth birth centennial is being observed in San Agustin Church with a very fitting exhibit which we ask all people interested in Philippine history to see. It takes you to the very beginnings of our history as a nation.

The Legazpi exhibit in San Agustin Church is not the first. Only last month, the National Museum initiated Legazpi’s 5th centennial celebration with our Mother Country, Spain. This same exhibit was a joint exhibit along with the State Corporation for Spanish Culture Action Abroad. It was called Philippines from Legazpi to Malaspina. In that column we mentioned that El Pasig is an anagram of Legazpi.

In Spain, Euro dollars are now in circulation that were minted to commemorate Legazpi’s 5th birth centennial. It would be fitting if our Post Office could issue a postage stamp to enhance our commemoration of said event.

The exhibit in San Agustin Church was prepared by Fr. Pedro G. Galende, who is the director of the San Agustin Museum and author of Angels in Stone, a coffee table book on all the Augustinian churches in the Philippines. The exhibit is called Amistad Duradera, in reference to the lasting friendly relations between Spain and the Philippines. We urge all Filipinos who want to know and understand their past to see the exhibit that covers our entire past from the arrival of the Spaniards that made their empire the very first where the sun never sets, to the evangelization that turned us into the only Christian nation in Asia, the governization that retained in part of the indigenous offices that existed such as the cabeza de barangay, the agricultural shift from slash-and-burn to the plow and the introduction of new crops.

All schools, specially in Metro Manila should have a program to make sure that their students see this exhibit.