Although I began doing the illustrations for the book The Origin of the Frog earlier, it was First Around the Globe which got published first, in 1997. This book was a collaborative work by authors Reni Roxas and Marc Singer, who were also the publishers of Tahanan Books for Young Readers. Reni and Marc were very generous to me. They paid me thirty-five thousand pesos for the illustrations which took me only a month to complete. That was a princely amount then, because publishers at the time will only pay twenty-five thousand pesos at the most to the illustrator. (Rex Printing only paid me fifteen-thousand pesos for The Origin of the Frog.)
The book is about Enrique el Negro.Enrique was the slave bought by Magellan in Malacca, where Magellan served as soldier. When Magellan sailed to the Philippines, he brought Enrique with him to serve as his interpreter in the islands he planned to go to. When they landed in Homonhon, an Island off Samar, Magellan realized that Enrique couldn't speak the language of the place which is Waray-Waray. It was only when they sailed to Limasawa Island in Southern Leyte and Cebu, that Enrique became useful as interpreter, because Enrique understood and spoke the language of the inhabitants there which is Sugbuanon (Cebuano). This book proposes the theory that because Enrique can speak Cebuano, he was definitely a Cebuano, and that he - not Magellan, nor Juan Sebastian Elcano - was the first circumnavigator of the world. This book tells of how Enrique was captured in Cebu by pirates from Mindanao, sold at the Malacca slave market, and brought by Magellan to Spain - from where they sailed south-westward to the tip of South America, through the South Pacific Ocean, to Guam, Homonhon, Limasawa, Cebu, and Mactan - and then Cebu again, where he presumably stayed after the death of his master.
An amusing incident involving the book was related to me by my father Edmundo. One time in the late 1990s, he was aboard a Superferry bound for Cebu. A close relative, Nick Gomocio, was with him. While sailing, they heard from the intercom a voice announcing an "on board sale" of a book. The book was First Around the Globe. When my father heard my name mentioned as the illustrator, he and Nick rushed to the book sale site, and promptly introduced himself to Reni Roxas as the father of the illustrator. Reni quickly quipped in reply: "Hindi ho maikakaila, Magkamukha ho kayo. (It can't be denied. You resemble each other.)"
The book is about Enrique el Negro.Enrique was the slave bought by Magellan in Malacca, where Magellan served as soldier. When Magellan sailed to the Philippines, he brought Enrique with him to serve as his interpreter in the islands he planned to go to. When they landed in Homonhon, an Island off Samar, Magellan realized that Enrique couldn't speak the language of the place which is Waray-Waray. It was only when they sailed to Limasawa Island in Southern Leyte and Cebu, that Enrique became useful as interpreter, because Enrique understood and spoke the language of the inhabitants there which is Sugbuanon (Cebuano). This book proposes the theory that because Enrique can speak Cebuano, he was definitely a Cebuano, and that he - not Magellan, nor Juan Sebastian Elcano - was the first circumnavigator of the world. This book tells of how Enrique was captured in Cebu by pirates from Mindanao, sold at the Malacca slave market, and brought by Magellan to Spain - from where they sailed south-westward to the tip of South America, through the South Pacific Ocean, to Guam, Homonhon, Limasawa, Cebu, and Mactan - and then Cebu again, where he presumably stayed after the death of his master.
An amusing incident involving the book was related to me by my father Edmundo. One time in the late 1990s, he was aboard a Superferry bound for Cebu. A close relative, Nick Gomocio, was with him. While sailing, they heard from the intercom a voice announcing an "on board sale" of a book. The book was First Around the Globe. When my father heard my name mentioned as the illustrator, he and Nick rushed to the book sale site, and promptly introduced himself to Reni Roxas as the father of the illustrator. Reni quickly quipped in reply: "Hindi ho maikakaila, Magkamukha ho kayo. (It can't be denied. You resemble each other.)"
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| Cover art, 1997, acrylic on paper, Marc Singer collection |
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