Ebook: Babaylan: Feminist Articulations and Expressions

There is always more than one way of telling a story. On
the shores of Mactan stand two markers that memorialize
April 27, 1521. The first one, erected in 1941, reads:
“On this spot Ferdinand Magellan died on April 27, 1521
wounded in an encounter with the soldiers of Lapulapu,
chief of Mactan Island. One of Magellan’s ships, the
Victoria, under the command of Juan Sebastian Elcano,
sailed from Cebu on May 1, 1521, and anchored at San
Lucar de Barrameda on September 6, 1522, thus
completing the first circumnavigation of the earth.” The
second one, put up in 1951, reads: “Here, on April 27
1521, Lapulapu and his warriors repulsed the Spanish
invaders, killing their leader, Ferdinand Magellan. Thus,
Lapulapu became the first Filipino to have repelled
European aggression.” Actually, as this anthology of
diverse articulations and expressions shows, there is
really more than one way, there is actually legion.