On May 8, 1565, less than two weeks after the Spanish arrival in Cebu, Miguel Lopez de Legazpi established the Spanish settlement called Villa de San Miguel. To this event is traced the founding of the ciudad de Cebu.

What does the word “founding” really mean? An official Spanish document during that time clearly sets the meaning of what was done on that day in May centuries ago.

It was a “taking possession” of the land. In the name of the Spanish Crown, Legazpi was, as the document says, “taking the occupancy, the possession, the ownership, and the command of the island and of all the others in the same territory and subject to it.”

As a sign of “true ownership”, Legazpi and his fellow Spaniards carried out the prescribed ritual acts: a mass was said, ground was broken for a fort (which eventually became Fort San Pedro), and marks were placed, a site was designated for a church (what eventually became Santo Niño Church), the settlement was placed under the patronage of a Christian saint (St. Michael), and the acts performed were duly recorded and notarized for posterity’s benefit.