Written by: seigfredtristan on August 11, 2010

That is a weird title, this website should be a UFO themed tabloid.

As a Filipino, why do you need to know about how Spain colonized Philippines? Simply because you do not know a lot about it. Same as when people ask you what Filipino food is, your usual answer would be, it is a mixture of Chinese and Spanish cuisine. You are definitely right about that but not entirely correct at all. That’s why you are still reading this up to this point. This is going to be a quick trip so fasten your seatbelt, start opening the reels of your mind and let’s get your mind’s eye rolling.

Ferdinand Magellan. Spain’s first attempt in colonizing the Philippines. Everybody knew that the guy died when he tried to showcase his force in front of Lapu-Lapu and his tribe. Here’s a quick account from the Spanish’s side of the story:

Pigafetta and Ginés de Mafra provided written documents of the events culminating in Magellan’s death:

“When morning came, forty-nine of us leaped into the water up to our thighs, and walked through water for more than two cross-bow flights before we could reach the shore. The boats could not approach nearer because of certain rocks in the water. The other eleven men remained behind to guard the boats. When we reached land, [the natives] had formed in three divisions to the number of more than one thousand five hundred people. When they saw us, they charged down upon us with exceeding loud cries… The musketeers and crossbow-men shot from a distance for about a half-hour, but uselessly… Recognizing the captain, so many turned upon him that they knocked his helmet off his head twice… A native hurled a bamboo spear into the captain’s face, but the latter immediately killed him with his lance, which he left in the native’s body. Then, trying to lay hand on sword, he could draw it out but halfway, because he had been wounded in the arm with a bamboo spear. When the natives saw that, they all hurled themselves upon him. One of them wounded him on the left leg with a large cutlass, which resembles a scimitar, only being larger. That caused the captain to fall face downward, when immediately they rushed upon him with iron and bamboo spears and with their cutlasses, until they killed our mirror, our light, our comfort, and our true guide. When they wounded him, he turned back many times to see whether we were all in the boats. Thereupon, beholding him dead, we, wounded, retreated, as best we could, to the boats, which were already pulling off.”

And here is our side of the story:

At dawn on 27 April 1521, Magellan invaded Mactan Island with 48 armed men (less than half his crew) and 1,000 Cebuano warriors, but had great difficulty landing his men on the rocky shore. Lapu-Lapu had an army of 1,500 on land. Magellan waded ashore with his soldiers and attacked the Mactan defenders, ordering Humabon and his warriors to remain aboard the ships and watch. Magellan seriously underestimated the Lapu-Lapu and his men, and grossly outnumbered, Magellan and 14 of his soldiers were killed. The rest managed to reboard the ships.

Now in this story, Magellan has a slave-assistant whom we only know as Enrique and in Magellan’s will he was supposed to be freed after his death. Well, the remaining crew of the ship thought otherwise leaving Enrique fleeing from the ranks with the help of the natives. So there you go, white-man sperm cells wandering on the islands of the Philippines. If ever he loved cooking, he would have definitely improvised on what ingredients they had before the next part of this Spanish rule unfolds.

*Insert dream sequence music here, multiple attempts by Spain in conquering the islands, they even claimed and named it Philippines (which is why you are called a Filipino) but nothing genuinely significant until…*

Miguel Lopez de Legazpi. This guy is the key to it all. He is the oracle to what Philippines is right now and how Filipino food came into what we know of it. First 28 years of his life is spent in Spain and the next 37 years was spent mainly in Mexico. Now here’ s something to ponder on before we continue; when you migrated from the Philippines to another country, how long did it take you to get immersed in their cuisine? Yes you do cook Filipino food but the percentage of you eating another culture’s food if you are in their turf is highly likely. With the 37 years Miguelito spent in Mexico he would have definitely at least attempted to try the burrito. I also heard rumors that this Miguel Lopez guy is the one that killed Zorro. By age 63 (Legazpi died at the age of 70), he went to the Philippines with 2,100 soldiers Spaniards and Mexican soldiers from New Spain which is now called Mexico. His expedition was the only successful voyage among the multiple number of attempts the kingdom of Spain stubbornly tried. This first Governor General of the Philippines is yes, an Español-Mehicano. That is why when you look up Menudo in Wikipedia, you would land on this page, or the Filipino Menudo or the 5 piece meat-combo that your Mom would have definitely tried if she was given that chance during the 1980′s. Menudo is a Mayan product, a  Mexican recipe and not of European (or Spanish) descent. I will discuss more of this when we go on further in our series of History of Filipino food, Spanish influence.

The Manila-Acapulco Galleons. After the successful campaign to make the Philippines as a colony of Spain, here is what the Mensajero delivered:

“As a tribute to your motherland Spain, you native Filipinos should do forced labor of 40 days, give your tithes of any produce, to honor mother Spain with your bounties.”

Of course everything is sent back to Spain to please the King but via Acapulco, Mexico. The Philippines did not ship directly to Spain but dealt with sombreros in Acapulco. There were 110 Galleon trips in the 250 years that the Manila-Acapulco Galleon was in operation. Let’s go back to Wikipedia:

The Manila-Acapulco galleons shipped products gathered from both Asia-Pacific and the Americas, such as silk, spice, silver, gold and other Asian-Pacific islander products to Mexico. Products brought from Asia-Pacific were sent to Veracruz and shipped to Spain and, via trading, to the rest of Europe. While Spanish-Mexican colonist brought with them Hispanic and indigenous Mexican customs, religion, languages, foods and cultural traditions to the Philippines, Guam and the Mariana Islands.

Although the Philippines was directly under Spanish rule and might, the frequent visitors of the Philippines would be the Mariachis with their secret guns inside their guitar cases. This may, take note, may answer the question why Filipinos look like Mexicans. I will cease from saying more in the meantime because we will reserve that for the next discussion on our discovery of the History of Filipino food, Spanish Influence. So, in this quick overview, if someone will ask you what Filipino food is, you know a little bit further than speaking some yeah-yeah answers. Try telling this story to your date, after you’ve cooked her dinner. You might find that the night will be longer than you expected. If anyone is hinting any doubts, say this:

“Te digo la neta, nunca te he mentido, yo soy el Zorro.”

I don’t understand it but it sounds really really serious so I assure you, you will be believable. Close your eyes half-way while saying it for a more serious appeal.

Click this to learn more about the History of Filipino Food, Spanish Influence