CEBU, Philippines - In 1980, the Cebuano historian Domingo M. Estabaya (or DM) already asserted that only the image of the Holy Child in Cebu has survived among all the images brought to places that later became Spanish colonies.
Estabaya writes that when Francisco Pizarro invaded the Inca lands of Peru, Bolivia and Chile in 1527, Pizarro also had images. To quote: “Peruvians, to this day, do ritual dance to their object of mass devotion, usually the Holy Child. It is not unlike our sinulog, . . . but their original image did not survive to this day.â€
He adds: “Even the Holy Child images brought along by other conquistadores and missionaries to North America and other parts of the world did not last to this day. Only the Holy Child in Cebu alone has survived, so that it has earned the sobriquet: Santo Nino de Cebu.â€
He then concluded: “So, when it comes to Sto. Nino, traditions like the sinulog come to its fountainhead in the country for the genuine versions: Cebu City.†(FREEMAN)