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FIRST MASS IN THE PHILIPPINES:

ABOUT 3,000 Roman Catholic faithful gathered in Limasawa Island in Southern Leyte for this year’s 498th first mass celebration Sunday, March 31, 1521.

“Almost 500 years ago, they just said the mass with few people. It was like a seed put in the soil. Now, that seed has become a big tree,” said Most Reverend Gabriele Giordano Caccia, Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines.

Limasawa, is a small island of significant history that rises about 700 ft. in the southern tip of leyte, just outside the mouth of Sogod Bay. On this island, Ferdinand Magellan first made extended contact with Filipino natives on March 28, 1521.

But according to BCHFI, there's a new proof that it was really held in butuan. It has gathered 28 new pieces of scientific, evidence and comparisons between the two islands-Mazzua and Limasawa-to substantiate Butuan's claim, including the recovery of 10 balanghai boats which were accidentally dug up near Masao River in 1976. A shrine was built for the ancient boats which were used by natives in Butuan for sea travel even before the Spaniards came. It will put Butuan city on the world map as a "historical and cultural heritage site." Andbsome of United Nations educational, scientific and cultural organization or (UNESCO) members are hoping the NHI will listen this time, pointing out that the claim for the site of this first mass must be substantiated by scientific proof not just a passing a law which, he insisted, has no scientific basis.

But the commission concluded that the First Mass was held in Limasawa after it found that:

The most complete and reliable account of the Magellan expedition into Philippine shores in 1521 is that of Antonio Pigafetta which is deemed as the only credible primary source of reports on the celebration of the first Christian Mass on Philippine soil.

James Robertson 's English translation of the original Italian manuscript of Pigaffeta's account is most reliable for being faithful to the original text as duly certified by the University of the Philippines' Department of European Language.

Pigafetta's Mazaua, the site of the first Christian Mass held on Philippine soil, is an island lying off the southwestern tip of Leyte while Masao in Butuan is not an island but a barangay of Butuan City located in a delta of the Agusan River along the coast of Northern Mindanao. The position of Mazaua, as plotted by Pigafetta, matched that of Limasawa.

The measurement of distances between Homonhon and Limasawa between Limasawa and Cebu, as computed by the pro-Limasawa group, matches or approximates the delineations made by Pigafetta of the distances between Homonhon and Mazaua and between Mazaua and Cebu.

And Magellan's fleet took a route from Homonhon to Mazaua and from Mazaua to Cebu that did not at any time touch Butuan or any other part of Mindanao. The docking facilities at Limasawa did not pose any problem for Magellan's fleet which anchored near or at some safe distance from the island of the eastern shore.

In writing to the controversy, the commission said it proceeded with utmost care.

It said that the conclusion was made to enlighten the current generation and remove all confusion about where the First Mass was held in the Philippines.