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Thanks to GO
BON SAN JUAN
GEMS OF HISTORY |
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Koxinga and Ternate |
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BY GO BON JUAN
Editor’s note: The Sixth Dr. Jose P. Rizal
Awards for Excellence awarding ceremony will be held at 2 p.m., June 14, at the Kaisa-Angelo King Heritage Center on Anda
and Cabildo streets, Intramuros, Manila.
In Cavite province,
there is a small town called Ternate located at the southern coast of Manila Bay facing Corregidor Island.
On February 1, 2008, I attended the book launching
of Esteban de Ocampo’s The Ternateņos: Their History, Languages, Customs and Traditions at the National Historical Institute.
It was only then that I learned about the interesting history of Ternate, especially its
relation with the famous Chinese general, Koxinga. Koxinga had threatened to attack the Philippines in 1662, and it was this threat that triggered one of the massacres
of the Chinese in the Parian in 1662 that left about 2,000 dead. How did it happen?
Here are excerpts from The Ternateņos:
“After the Dutch were driven from Formosa by Kue-Sing [Koxinga], the latter sent an ambassador to Manila,
demanding that the Philippines submit
to his rule and become one of his tributary states. Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, then governor and captain-general of the
Islands, refused to submit to this demand, and fearing an invasion, ordered the Spanish soldiers to abandon Zamboanga and
other parts of Mindanao as well as that of Ternate in the Moluccas—which had been taken by the Spaniards in 1606—and
to reinforce the menaced capital, Manila. The garrison of Ternate thus transferred to Manila
in 1663, and with it probably was a contingent of Mardica warriors.”
“It was mentioned that ‘200 Mardicas
had left Ternate [in the Moluccas] for Manila. In the latter
city, they established themselves in Bagumbayan or what is now Ermita. Stories had it that Kue-Sing died and the proposed
Chinese invasion of the Philippines did
not materialize.’
“The Mardicas ‘established there [in
Ternate] probably not later than 1700.’
“Those who originally settled in Ternate, or what was formerly called ‘Barra de Maragondon,’ numbered seven families. Other
data, however, indicated 14 families . . . Upon their arrival at the coast of Maragondon, the Mardicas chose as the site of
their new home a place near the mouth of the Maragondon River, which they called Gala-la, from the name of a tree which grew in that place .
. . The Mardicas cleared the land and tilled the soil. Being near the river and the bay
of Manila, they engaged actively in fishing which, up to the present,
is their chief occupation. In due time, they intermarried with the people of the neighboring villages and when their community
was organized into a pueblo or town they chose the name Ternate in memory of their far-away home in the Moluccas Islands.”
Thus, a new town was
born, a legacy of a historical incident that happened in 1662, an indirect result of the expulsion of the Dutch from Taiwan by Koxinga in that year. |
Alaala ya lang ay Monti di Casa Niņa
Aya na pueblu di Ternate, Probinsiya de Cavite. Tieni Monti ay numbri Casa
Niņa. Ay Casa Niņa taya na parabahu na kantu di Luneta St. pati Sto. Niņo St. Aya na kantu di Luneta pati Sto Niņo. Tiene
baluntaryo. Esti baluntaryo ay agwa no ta para, tuloy tuloy ay gutyada. Tiene bes aya mihutru ta pasa para enda na Monti di
Casa Niņa. Ay una pa kaminu para enda na Casa Niņa aya na tierra di Seņor Isabelo Huerto, Seņor Felipe, Seņor Enchoy, Seņora
Panyang at saka na looban di Tiong Toy Salcedo. Todu tiempu mihutru ta enda aya, palagi mihutru ta miedu kasi nga ta habla
ay mga bieha I biehu tiene manglalabas, inkantu, malignu, duwendi pati kapri aya. Cuandu mga muchachu
pa mihutro, palagi mutru ta enda aya na Casa Niņa, para huga, saka ramas de ponu para se krismas tree.
Cuandu mga muchachu pa mutro, palagi mutro ta enda aya para se cose cose, huga alikandoy, taguang pati bahay-bahayan. Tuwing
di enda motru aya na Monti ta ma pansin yo muchu pahru pati mga animal. Ta tira mutru kel mga pahru pati animal kung tirador,
pero muchu mga biehu pati bieha ta habla lutru kung mutru no tira kung mga kelya kasi baka daw mga enkantaw. Siyanga pala
ta habla rin lutru kung mutro kuedaw daw pag takamina mutro aya na Monti di Casa Niņa dahil baka raw pesa mutro kung kel mga
Nunu. Kaya pag ta enda motru aya medyu tamiedu mutru baka nga tameng pisa mutro kung kel mga Nuno.
Kaya lang medyu delikaw aya kasi muchu espinas di ponu'y aroma, kraskas di istiyonis pati kebraw boti. Aya na Monti di Casa
Niņa, muchu sembra ligaw, tieni aya sampaluk, lomboy, guyabas pati susung kalabaw. Ay susong kalabaw ya keda nuway, maski
quien no sabi kosa ya enkrese basta ya lang ya keda nuway. Tiene tiempu ta enda mutru na gilid di
Monti, para saka estiyonis, lukan pati peskaw. Ta se din mutru bintol, kasi ba tamieng, bung grandi grandi ay mga kangrehu
aya. Pag di nochi ta se mangilaw motru, bung grandi grandi ay mga kamarong, peskaw, kangrehu, at saka prestu para kohe aya.
Kaya lang medyu trabahu se mangilaw aya, bung rebalusu ay lodu at bung hundu. Pag ya pisa motru na lodu di sumi hondu kel
di mutro stinelas, bung trabahu para kita ay stinelas, cheni bes ta robenta pa ay goma o kaya tameng ta matanggal na gurehu.
Ta senyala yo pag grandi ay agua, no muna motro ta enda na orilya di Monti di Casa Niņa, kasi no tieni tierra para kamina
o pisa.. Tieni bes tameng pati na drentu di Casa Niņa, gradi din ay agua, kaya pag chiquitu ya ay agua o nuway ma agua na
drentu, pag ta enda mutru aya, bung lodu tameng. Ay Monti di Casa Niņa, bung muchu kasaysayan para
kung mutro mga kabataan kuandu 1950's. Pero esti kuandu Eneru 5, ya mira yo ay Monti Di Casa Niņa,
nuway ma aya. Cheni ya aya mga Casa, maski un puno para senyala ay nakaraan nuway ma. Ay boluntaryo
nuway ma rin. Pati ay numbri di kalyi otru ya rin.
Andy R. Huerto
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