By: Joe Sprite

Here we go again. This time people are thinking of celebrating the Sandugo in Hinawanan beach in Villa Limpia, Loay. We wonder if those who think of the Sandugo were held in Bool would take this lying down. Assumptions of the Hinawananists are not conclusive. The Blood Compact could have been held from Garcia Hernandez to Loay to Tagbilaran and places as far as Chocolate Hills as what our researcher Gaudencio L. Patulilik Esq contended. It is anybody's guess. The location source could had been the logbook of the sailing master or captain of the flagship of Miguel Lopez de Legazpi - whether he spelled his name with a z or an s – is debatable – or from the chronicles of Fr. Urdaneta. Urdaneta? Historical clues tell us that mariners at that time relied on the astrolabe, compass and the hourglass as their navigational aids. The sextant and chronometer were invented much later. The General Positioning System or GPS much much later.

The map of the known world depicted only major continents; the Philippine Archipelago was not yet mapped. Gerardus Mercator was to draw the longitudinal and latitudinal lines of the world in 1565 so this could not be used by the Legazpi navigator for reference. Although Tagbilaran and Loay had existed as a preHispanic settlement, it had not yet existed in the world map at that time. It was only when the Philippines was colonized by Spain when the Philippine islands and Bohol were mapped. Perhaps, the best way to establish the travels of Legazpi is to retrace the Legazpi logbook, starting from the departure from Mexico , day by day hour-by-hour. Do not look at us for translation; we have only twelve units in Spanish. The last lesson that we had was the conjugacion del verbo conocir, pronounced “conothir”. It runs like this: yo cono, tu coneth. el cone. Then follows conoth ko; conoth mo conoth natong tanan. For that we got our walking papers for the day.

The task should be given to Prof Emmanuel Luis Romanillos, who specializes in translating Spanish documents in the Philippines to English. Using the formula “distance equals rate times time” with the rate and time given in the logbook plus direction of sailing, the tracer could reasonably establish the location for any given time. With additional description of ancient landmarks, the ceremonial place could be located with a reasonable degree of accuracy. Historical landmarks need not be precise, only times and dates of events. Some battles, which decided the history of the world, cannot be located exactly. The place where the Battle of Chalons or Mauriac Plains, where the Huns of Attila were defeated by the combined Roman and Gothic armies of Aetius and Thoedoric is not located. Nor was there an attempt to seriously locate it.

If the Sandugo monument is located in Bool, just leave it as is. There is no need in transferring it. If Loay wants to have their own monument, let them construct one. It is not that we have something against Loay. We have some kin there. Though we have not actually met them. Take the case of. Caloocan and Biak na Bato in the province of Rizal . The Bonifacio monument in Caloocan is bigger than in Biak na Bato. The Cry of Balintawak was made in the latter while the bigger monument was in the former. If the Sandugo festival is celebrated in Tagbilaran City with the participation of the TBTK – Tanang Bol anon Tihik Kaayo – then so be it. so much the better, we can celebrate the Blood compact twice.