tagasugbo

THE PEOPLE | European encounter

Blood compact by Manuel Panares

Indigenous Cebuanos, the original inhabitants of the island of Cebu were full of tattoos and adorned with gold earrings, bracelets and necklaces as depicted above in a painting by Manuel Panares. In this painting, Rajah Humabon had a blood compact with Magellan , captain of the Spanish expedition that landed in Cebu.

After the blood compact, Magellan went to war with Humabon's enemy, Lapulapu who killed him. The rest of Spanish men who were in Humabon's court were butchered. So much for mixing blood as symbol of brotherhood and unity. The natives thought they could use the European's military strength to their advantage in their war against Lapulapu. . Unfortunately, Lapu-lapu, killed the leader of the Spanish conquestadores. Miguel Lopez de Legaspi conquered the Philippines for good in 1565.

Today, most of the natives are powerless, poor, marginalized. What happened since then?