Young Filipinos take voyage of heritage and faith

Nuestra Senora de la Paz y Buen Viaje goes to Cebu

Participants and organizers of Viaje del Galeon.

IT WAS both a voyage of faith and heritage for 300 youthful souls who joined the Viaje del Galeón, Oct. 8-11, as part of the Dia del Galeón (Day of the Galleon) celebrations.


Dia del Galeón, of course, was the first international commemoration of the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade that flourished from 1565 to 1815. The celebration was organized by Spain, Mexico and the Philippines.

The youth cruise was notable since the image of Nuestra Señora de la Paz Buen Viaje (Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage) of Antipolo accompanied it. It was the first time for the icon to set sail again after 200 years.


“What you love, you bring along with you,” Msgr. Rigoberto de Guzman, director of the Antipolo Shrine, said in his homily for the opening Mass, referring to the centuries-old Antipolo image. The Mass was held on board SuperFerry 20.
De Guzman underscored that the devotion to the Marian image was one of the most significant legacies of the galleon trade. He also stressed that, to date, the Philippines had remained a “bastion of faith.”

Noted in earlier accounts, the Madonna sculpture, carved from dark wood, came from Acapulco, Mexico. Marked on the image’s petite figure were the celebrated voyages of galleons San Diego, Encarnacion, San José, Nuestra Señora del Pilar and El Amirante, which brought the icon from Mexico to Manila along with Don Juan Niño de Tabora, who was to become governor general of the Philippines, on March 25, 1626.

Legend has it that the Blessed Virgin protected every travel where the Madonna was present. Neither mutiny nor natural calamity wrecked the ships. Hence, the titles Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage and Patroness of Galleons.

Cosmopolitan character

The voyage sought to correct the impression that the galleon trade was purely a commercial affair. It was that and more.

On the way to Cebu aboard the ship, a two-part lecture and an orientation about Cebu City were delivered before an audience of high-school and college student leaders.

“Every galleon is a transmitter of culture,” Celestina Boncan, former president of the Philippine Historical Association, said. She explained the Philippines served as the springboard of Christianity in the East. And education and music were promoted through the galleon trade.

To cite other exchanges, culinary favorites sampaloc, achuete and tsokolate de batiro came from Mexico to the Philippines through the galleons, Boncan said. The popular avocado fruit and calachuchi flower are also of Mexican origin.

The Philippine’s fragrant ilang-ilang, mostly sold as garlands in streets near churches, now enriches the flora of Mexico and Europe. The flower is now one of the key ingredients in expensive French perfumes.

Boncan explained that only Manila acquired a “cosmopolitan character” among cities in Asia particularly because of the benefits of the galleon trade.

The Chinese (known as Chinos and Sangleys) transported to Manila their goods for business, which would in turn be taken by the galleons to either the Americas or Europe.

Further studies showed Japan, Moluccas, Malacca and India had also traded products in Manila.

Spanish heritage

During the press conference at Casa Gorordo, a heritage site in Cebu, historians and scholars said the galleon trade was a Spanish heritage worthy to be celebrated and treasured.

Cynthia Rivera of the Intramuros Administration said: “The past is telling us what we have built already. Heritage is not dead. This activity goes to those who could carry and bear culture in the future.”

Monsignor De Guzman said that while Filipinos should be critical of colonization in general, they should also value the positive aspects of Spanish heritage.

Jocelyn Gerra, executive director of the Culture and Heritage unit of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc, commended the youth who enthusiastically attended the four-day cruise and heritage tour in Cebu.

“It’s good to have the youth talking to other youths about history,” she said.

Aboitiz, the main sponsor of the event, maintains an exemplary network of museums, which include Casa Gorordo, which is reminiscent of the early upper-middle-class lifestyle in mid-19th century Cebu.

Fr. Harold Rentoria, OSA, National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) commissioner for cultural heritage, said the galleon-trade commemoration should stress the value of friendship and collaboration.

“The success of Viaje del Galeón is a result of friendship that allowed each one to share individual talents and capabilities toward common purposes. These are for the good of the youth and for the country,” said Rentoria, a priest belonging to the Augustinian Order, the first missionary order to reach the Philippines (1565).

Bonds forged

Indeed, bonds were forged between those who joined the event—from the heritage tour of Intramuros to the cruise from Manila to Cebu and back; and, in between, the visits to various museums and historical sites.

The heritage tours in Manila and Cebu included San Agustin Church and Museum, Fort Santiago and Bahay Tsinoy in Intramuros; Bantayan sa Hari in Mandaue; Casa Gorordo Museum, University of Southern Philippines Foundation Rizal Museum, Cathedral Museum of Cebu, Magellan’s Cross, San Pedro Fort and Basilica del Santo Niño in Cebu City.

Día del Galeón was an initiative of the NCCA in observance of the October 2009 proclamation of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in Paris, France, declaring Oct. 8 of every year as the Day of the Galleon.

Oct. 8, 1565 was noted by historians as the date of the arrival of Augustinian Fray Urdaneta in Mexico on board the San Pedro, which marked the discovery of the Tornaviaje, the return route that assured the linkage of four continents—Asia, Americas, Africa and Europe.

Philippine Daily Inquirer

Date First Posted 22:05:00 10/18/2010


Photos by Paul Allyson Quiambao