Much as we welcome
the efforts of Ambassador Vicente Luis Coca Alvarez of Mexico to remind
us of our ties with his people, we have mixed feelings about his emphasis
on the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between
our two countries.
We ask: "Why
speak of 40 years when we should be speaking of 438? Why speak of a relationship
between states when we should be speaking of a relationship between peoples?''
Of course, the
ambassador is the first one to remind us of the many years in which Mexico
and the Philippines were linked by the galleons that plied between Manila
and Acapulco.
He describes
the galleon trade as taking place during "the Spanish era in both countries"
-- and here, we beg to disagree with the ambassador. The Spanish era in
Mexico was the Mexican era in the Philippines: up to the time Mexico became
independent, Spain governed the Philippines through Mexico; during this
period, the Philippines was to all intents and purposes a colony more of
Mexico than of Spain.
Most Filipinos,
however, remain under the impression that the Philippines was governed
directly from Spain throughout the Spanish period -- and that the galleons
brought only Asian goods to Acapulco and Mexican silver to Manila. In fact,
the galleons also carried government directives and reports back and forth.
While most of
us know that Spanish rule was established in the Philippines by Miguel
Lopez de Legazpi, few of us recall that the Legazpi expedition (like the
Saavedra and Villalobos expeditions that preceded it) were outfitted in
Mexico. We continue to regard Legazpi and his navigator Fray Andres de
Urdaneta as Spaniards even though a good case can be made for their being
Spanish immigrants to Mexico who intended to live and die there -- and,
for this reason, could be regarded as Mexicans.
When Legazpi
was named to head the expedition, he had lived for more than 29 years in
Mexico. Urdaneta, who served as an assistant to Sebastian de Elcano in
the Loaisa expedition, sailed in 1538 for the New World in the fleet of
Governor Pedro Alvarado of Guatemala. Urdaneta commanded troops in Mexico,
was named to such positions as corregidor, visitor and even admiral of
the fleet. When he entered the Augustinian order in 1552, it was clear
that he intended to live the rest of his life in the New World.
Similarly, the
350 men who sailed with Legazpi in the San Pedro, San Pablo, San Juan and
San Lucas were men of Nueva Espana, not Mother Spain.
Once we start
thinking of Legazpi and his men as Mexicans, not Spaniards, our entire
attitude toward Philippine-Mexican relations changes: it is Mexico, not
Spain, that made the Philippines part of the known world; it is Mexico,
not Spain, that carried out the mandate to predicar, pacificar y poblar
[preach, bring peace and colonize] the Philippines.
The achievement
of the Legazpi expedition was not reaching the Philippines (after all,
Magellan, Loaisa, Saavedra and Villalobos had done it), but in finding
the route back to Mexico. Without such a westward route, no communication
back and forth across the Pacific was possible.
The discovery
of the westward route -- the route taken by the galleons and the ships
of all nations that plied the Pacific during the age of sail -- is Urdaneta's
signal achievement. For this reason, the most appropriate date for marking
Philippine-Mexican relations is not April 14, 1953, when diplomatic ties
were established, and not even Nov. 21, 1564, when Legazpi's fleet sailed
out La Navidad. The most appropriate date is Oct. 8, 1565, when Urdaneta
in the San Pedro arrived in Acapulco, completing the westward passage.
Why speak of
only 40 years when we could speak of 438?