I Travel: Fort Pilar, Zamboanga City

The most beautiful spot in Zamboanga City, Fort Pilar - Real Fuerza de Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Zaragoza - is now a fortress of Catholiscm on this part of Mindanao. What was then a stone fort built in defense against pirates and raiders has evolved into a place of prayer, reflections and yes, tourism. I happened to see this place in 2004 in a working stint with Pfizer as a Professional Healthcare Representative. I and my friend and classmate at the training, Doctor Gian, stayed at his uncle's residence in Guiwan for a week. His good uncle (I forgot the name) toured us around the city so as to give us a rough trajectory. Our last stop was the Fort Pilar.

Here's a brief history of this beautiful citadel set in a beautiful city of Zamboanga. Courtesy: www.wikipedia.org

In defense against pirates and raiders of the sultans of Mindanao and Jolo and upon the requests of the Jesuit missionaries and Bishop Fray Pedro of Cebu, the Spanish governor Don Juan Cerezo Salamanca approved the building of a stone fort in the year 1635. The fort was originally called "Real Fuerza de San Jose".

The cornerstone was laid on June 23, 1635 by Fr. Melchor de Vera, a Jesuit priest-engineer. This date also marks the founding of Zamboanga as a city which then was known pre-Spanish days as Jambangan and Samboangan. The construction of the early fort continued within the governorship of Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera, ex-governor of Panama. Because of insufficient manpower, labourers from Cavite, Cavite, Cebu, Bohol, and Panay had to be imported to help the Spaniards and Mexicans in the construction of the fort. This period also marks the beginning of the Chavacano language as a pidgin that eventually developed to be a creole language for Zamboangueños.

Fort Pilar was attacked by the Dutch in 1646 and was later abandoned by the Spanish troops who went back to Manila in 1662-1663 to help fight the Chinese pirate Kui Seng (or Co Seng, Koxinga, Guo Xing-ye in Chinese) who had earlier defeated the Dutch. In 1669, it was reconstructed by the Jesuit missionaries after pirates and raiders continued to destroy it. In 1718-1719, it was rebuilt by the Spaniard engineer Juan Sicarra upon the orders of Spanish Governor General Don Fernando Manuel de Bustillo Bustamante y Rueda and was renamed as "Real Fuerza de Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Zaragoza" in honor of the patron virgin of Spain. Our Lady of the Pilar. A year after, it was stormed by Dalasi, king of Bulig and 3,000 Moro pirates but the Spanish forces resisted the attack. In 1734, a statue of the Our Lady of the Pillar was placed above the eastern wall of the fort making it an outdoor shrine with an altar for praying. In 1798, the fort was bombarded by British troops, but again it proved robust enough to repeal strong military attacks. Fort Pilar was the scene of a mutiny of 70 prisoners in 1872. On September 21, 1897 the virgin made an apparition, according to the people who witnessed it they saw the virgin standing mid-air over the Basilan Strait, she had her right hand raised to signal the onrushing waves to stop, saving the city from a tsunami". Tradition reveals the Virgin Mary appeared to a soldier on December 6, 1734 at the gate of the city. Not recognizing her, the soldier asked her to stop. Then, he recognized her and fell down to his knees.

Following the Spanish-American War, the Fort Pilar and its Spanish troops surrendered to the Revolutionary Government of Zamboanga on May 18, 1899, under General Vicente Alvarez, a Zamboangueño, at the onset of the Philippine revolution against Spain. The Spaniards, in reality, again abandoned the fort after Spain ceded the Philippines to the United States of America a year before in 1898 by the Treaty of Paris. On November 19, 1899 the fort was captured by U.S. expeditionary forces and during World War II in 1942, Japanese forces captured and took control of the fort. It was recaptured by the United States and Filipino troops on March, 1945 and was finally and officially turned over to the government of the Republic of the Philippines on July 4, 1946.

Fort Pilar is now an outdoor catholic Marian shrine and a museum. It is the major landmark of Zamboanga City and a symbol of the city's cultural heritage.