‘Bajo’ means ‘shoal’ in English, not ‘under’

WITH ALL due respect to Fr. Joaquin Bernas and the editorial board, the Spanish word “Bajo” in Bajo de Masinloc, is not an adverb meaning “under” (Inquirer, 4/23/12), but a noun meaning “shoal” or “shallows.” It does not mean “below Masinloc” (Bernas) or “under the waters of Masinloc” (editorial), but “the shoal or shallows of Masinloc,” Masinloc being the name of the Zambales town under whose jurisdiction it has been for several centuries.

The explorer Alejandro Malaspina in his Philippine expedition of 1792-1793, sailed to and around the “Baxo de Masinloc,” as he named it on a map published in 1808 in Madrid. The name “Bajo de Masinloc” is carried on other maps, as early as Fr. José Algué’s map of 1899-1900.

—BENITO LEGARDA JR.,

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