VISITING SAMAR. President Rodrigo Roa Duterte will lead on Thursday (March 18, 2021) the unveiling of a historical marker in Guiuan, Eastern Samar, identifying the Philippines’ role in the 500th anniversary (quincentennial) of the first circumnavigation of the world. The President will also inaugurate the electrification project meant for residents of the nearby island of Homonhon. (PCOO file photo)
TACLOBAN CITY - President Rodrigo Roa Duterte will lead on Thursday the unveiling of a historical marker in Guiuan, Eastern Samar, identifying the Philippines’ role in the 500th anniversary (quincentennial) of the first circumnavigation of the world.
The National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) announced on Tuesday that the President will lead the activity in Ngolos village, Guiuan town as part of his itinerary in Eastern Visayas.
Joining him in the unveiling is Spanish Ambassador to the Philippines Jorge Moragas Sanchez, National Quincentennial Committee (NQC) Chairperson and Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, Senator Bong Go, NHCP Chairperson Rene Escalante, Department of Energy Alfonso Cusi, and several other local chief executives and members of the quincentennial committee.
Duterte will also inaugurate the electrification project meant for residents of the nearby island of Homonhon.
The visit to Guiuan is part of the Chief Executive’s itinerary in the region to preside the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict in this city.
These events are closed to the general public, but all government media are instructed to maximize their assets in bringing the quincentennial events closer to the people through traditional and online platforms.
The historical marker in Ngolos is one of the 34 markers in the country identified as part of the historic route of the first circumnavigation in the world.
On Tuesday, NQC and NHCP marked the beginning of the Philippine part in the first circumnavigation of the world with the unveiling of a historical marker in Suluan Island, also in Guiuan.
Spanish Navy training ship Juan Sebastian Elcano has joined the occasion straight from Guam.
The said ship has been tracing the route of the first circumnavigation from Seville, Spain since 2019. The ship was welcomed by BRP Apolinario Mabini of the Philippine Navy.
The local government held a fluvial parade in the waters between Guiuan and Manicani Island.
On Wednesday key officials unveiled another historical marker in the town’s Homonhon Island.
It was in Suluan where the Magellan-Elcano expedition, the first to circumnavigate the planet, anchored on March 16, 1521, from Guam.
“They landed for the first time in Homonhon the next day and on the following day, met our ancestors for the first time, offering them food and nourishment. The expedition arrived in these places starving, dehydrated, scurvy-stricken, and undernourished for almost four months astray in the Pacific,” the NHCP said.
NHCP announced in 2018 that it would mark 34 sites in Palawan, Visayas, and Mindanao along the route of the circumnavigation.
In the same year, President Duterte created NQC to prepare the country for these milestones which will end on October 28 in Sarangani Island.
Collectively known as the 2021 Quincentennial Commemorations in the Philippines, events include the 500th anniversary of the Victory at Mactan, the D-Day of the State-led quincentennial on 27 April 2021, and the 500 Years of Christianity. (PNA)
