2025 July Articles

Articles - July 2025 - Weekly Features

2025 July 16 – The Moro Attacks

This week’s feature article delves into Chapter 8 of Surigao Across the Years, titled "Moro Attacks: Jihad or Piracy?", which reexamines the long-standing conflict between Muslim seafaring warriors and Spanish colonial forces in Mindanao, particularly in Surigao. Author Dr. Fernando A. Almeda Jr. contextualizes the Moro resistance as more than mere piracy, citing historian Cesar Adib Majul’s perspective that the conflict was a Jihad—a defensive war rooted in faith and sovereignty. From the earliest clash with Legazpi’s fleet in 1563 to the devastating raids that captured hundreds annually, this chapter explores how Surigao was repeatedly embroiled in a broader geopolitical struggle. Spanish forts in Tandag and elsewhere were both strategic bulwarks and flashpoints of resistance. This feature highlights the complexity of the Moro-Spanish conflict in Surigao, revealing its dual identity as both a religious crusade and a power struggle over influence, tribute, and survival in colonial Mindanao.

2025 July 23 – Presion: Tale of Two Brothers

This week, the Surigao Historical Society highlights Chapter 12 of Surigao Across the Years, titled “Presion: Tale of Two Brothers”, which revisits Surigao’s quiet but significant involvement in the Philippine Revolution against Spain. Unlike the dramatic uprisings in Luzon, Surigao’s revolutionary movement was less visible—marked not by open warfare but by a network of dissent and political awakening. At the center of this chapter are Simon and Wenceslao Gonzalez of Gigaquit, exiled to Jolo in 1892 for their subversive activities and later recognized for their patriotic fervor. Simon Gonzalez, later appointed Brigadier General by President Emilio Aguinaldo, symbolizes the unrecorded heroism of provincial revolutionaries. This article examines how these brothers—nurtured by education, faith, and quiet defiance—came to embody Surigao’s contribution to the national struggle for independence. Dr. Almeda’s work restores their rightful place in the historical narrative, shedding light on how the seeds of nationalism were sown even in the remote corners of the archipelago.

2025 July 30 – San Juan: Intimation of Atlantis

This week’s feature from Surigao Across the Years, presented by the Surigao Historical Society, uncovers the mystery of San Juan Island, as chronicled in Chapter 7: "San Juan: Intimation of Atlantis." Once vividly described by 17th-century explorers like Captain Charles Swan and William Dampier, San Juan was said to lie off the coast of Surigao, near Dinagat and Bucas Grande. Early maps depicted it as a sizable island teeming with forests and signs of habitation, yet it has since vanished from modern cartography—sparking speculation of it being a “lost island” akin to a Philippine Atlantis. Friars Buzeta and Bravo also referenced San Juan as a place of feral beasts and thick jungle, adding to its lore. Through historical accounts, maritime records, and maps that once marked its presence, Dr. Almeda invites readers into one of Surigao’s enduring enigmas. Was San Juan a mischarted land, a cartographic error, or a real island swallowed by time and tide? This feature invites you to reflect on how myth and memory shape our understanding of place.

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