TACLOBAN CITY – The Department of Tourism (DoT) will implement this year the project to build a sculpture depicting the First Mass in Limasawa, Southern Leyte by commissioning the service of well-known architect Nemesio “Nemi” Miranda who was creator of the famous People Power monument at Epifanio De Los Santos Avenue (EDSA) in Manila.
Miranda was tasked by the DoT to make an image of the First Mass with a height of 32 feet at the public plaza located in Barangay Magallanes.
The perspective of the project was finished sometime last year.
The DoT set aside a budget of P7 million for this project which is expected to draw tourists who visit the historic island, especially every March 31.
Based on historical account, the First Mass in the Orient was held in March 31, 1521 when Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan under Spanish flag landed in the island celebrated he mass at Barangay Magallanes and planted a cross.
Based on the DoT tourist arrival records last year, the National Shrine in Limasawa was among the most visited tourism sites in the region last year.
Aside from the project to be implemented by the DoT, the provincial government of Southern Leyte, which included Limasawa under its tourism master plan, is also set to construct a 100-meter high cross in the island, equipped with elevator to reach the top portion where businesses like a coffee shop are to be put up.
The provincial government estimated that the project will cost about P80 million.
During last year’s 490th First Mass celebration, Bishop Precioso Cantillas of the diocese of Maasin launched the “Decade of Evangelization”
that will culminate on March 31, 2021, the 500th year anniversary of the historic event.
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