via Philippine Inquirer, 19 January 2021: This year is the 500th anniversary of the Magellan voyage around the world and the Philippines is hosting a number of events to commemorate its place in the voyages (while being careful not to call it the anniversary of Philippines’ discovery).
In December, the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) released the calendar of events for the National Quincentennial Commemorations, marking the 500th anniversary of the Victory at Mactan, the Philippines’ role in the first circumnavigation in the world, and other related events.
The events are being spearheaded by the NHCP’s National Quincentennial Committee (NQC) which already hosted a number of activities such as physical and online lectures after it was officially launched in December 2018.
This committee was created in 2018 through Executive Order No. 55 solely for the 2021 Quincentennial Commemorations in the Philippines, or 2021 QCP, which will mark the Victory at Mactan on April 27 and the Philippine part in the first circumnavigation from March 16 to Oct. 28.
In a message, the organizers said that “the NQC maximizes the worldwide commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the achievement of humanity in circumnavigating the planet for the first time in underscoring the fact that our ancestors have had flowering civilization upon the arrival of Magellan in 1521.”
Source: Why 1st circumnavigation is not the ‘discovery of the Philippines’ | Inquirer Lifestyle
