LAST Monday, April 27, 2020, I was supposed to be in Lapu-Lapu City for the one-year countdown to the 500th year of the Victory in Mactan and related events (aka The National Quincentennial), which will feature the annual extravagant program reenacting the 1521 Battle of Mactan (Kadaugan sa Mactan) and the first day of the 2020 Philippine Historical Association International Conference on the regional context of 2021, which will bring together historians from Southeast Asia. The National Quincentennial Committee (NQC), the National Historical Commission of the Philippines and we in the Philippine Historical Association had been preparing for these events until our world was gripped by the coronavirus pandemic and is now at a standstill.

Despite the lockdown, Ian Christopher Alfonso, of the secretariat of the NQC, informed me that this would not stop the commemoration of a very important historic event. Thus, an online event was held that day with five special “webinars,” all beamed on facebook live by Radio Television Malacañang and on many other government Facebook pages. Ian also told me I would be participating as a speaker and co-moderator in another session.