Here are some comments on Daniel Dizon?s letter ?Baptism unlikely done in Batangas in 1542.? (Philippine Daily Inquirer, 3/14/09)

Based on primary and secondary documentary evidence:

1. It is true that the earliest Spanish landing in Luzon happened only in 1569.

2. But it was not the Spanish forces led by Martin de Goite and Juan de Salcedo, coming from Panay, that first landed in Luzon.

3. The Spaniards who first set foot in Luzon was the missionary expedition of Capt. Luis Enriquez de Guzman and Augustinian Fray Alonso Jimenez. They were dispatched by Legaspi from Panay Island to Ibalon in the province of Camarines (?Bicol Region?) to preach Christianity.

4. When they reached the ancient trading port of Ibalon, situated near or at the mouth of Ginangra River in Magallanes, Sorsogon, they found the place thickly populated. Then, they caused the construction of a small chapel where Fray Jimenez held the first Catholic Mass in Luzon in July 1569 and baptized many natives and chiefs (?bautizo a muchos indios y principales?)

ROGERIO H. ESCOBAL, 2489 San Juan St., San Juan-Roro, Sorsogon City