Tuesday, January 23, 2007 Man The Fort By Ritchie Landis Doner Quijano
ENEMY ships are in sight.
The sentinel on guard sounds the horn, villagers are alerted for an impending attack. The town’s chieftain gives instruction to man the ramparts, lock the gates and load the cannons. Then, a single warning shot is fired.
We may not have castles surrounded by moats, but a medieval battle scene always come to my mind whenever I travel down south and pass through one of the small Spanish-built fortifications in the island. There is a string of old forts overlooking the coastal seas in southern Cebu. These were built centuries ago as the first line of defense for the coastal towns from moro pirates and marauders.
Southern towns needed forts because often they were pillaged during pangayaw raids, dreaded because it was a raid to loot goods, snatch people for slavery and abduct maidens. Today, the pangayaw is reduced to a fishing method.
To help the natives defend themselves, the legendary Spanish warrior-priest Fr. Julian Bermejo was instrumental in setting up these defenses. The priest is credited to have built most of the southern forts. He was thought to have also taught the natives sword-fighting skills and how to wield the batuta (fighting sticks). The priest was believed to have captured and killed the leader of the raiding moros during one of their attacks and buried his head in the grounds fronting the Boljoon church.
The forts, made with local coral stone, are known to locals today as baluartes, bantayan sa hari or watchtowers. Though some are now crumbling from the elements, the one at Ascalon in Samboan stands out as the tallest all over the island, and most well preserved. Standing for centuries and ever vigilant, not anymore for raiders, but more as a link to our history.
