About three hundred years before the Spanish colonization of the Philippines, Chinese nationals have already been going to and from selected areas in its islands aboard their slow sailing junks to exchange trade with its natives. Some of these Chinese junks penetrated the waters of Manila Bay and opted to offer their wares to early Caviteño natives living at the northern tip of the place called Tanguay (the present-day Cavite City). They introduced themselves to the natives as “Shang Lui,” from the Chinese Mandarin word meaning Chinese traders. The natives then begun to call them “Sangley” as much as the place where they meet to exchange their wares.
In 1571, when the Spaniards led by Conquistador Miguel Lopez de Legazpi came to conquer and finally settled in Manila and Cavite, they never ever been noticed this place until about sometime when they discovered that it was a projecting promontory or point.
In November 1574, Chinese pirates led by its formidable leader Lim-Ah-Hong tried to invade Manila by force but was subsequently repulsed by the combined forces of the Spaniards and native volunteers. In the ensuing battle Lim-Ah-Hong’s army suffered heavy casualties and decided to retreat than surrender to the local defenders. They took a temporary refuge at Sangley Point where they nursed their wounded comrades and buried their dead. They eventually left the place for another destination.
When the Spaniards came to this place and asked the natives about its name, they said it’s Sangley hence from then on, the Spaniards called it Punta de Sangley. They found the place sandy and full of reeds which in their own tongue meant caña. And so, they gave the place its second name, Cañacao.
The Spaniards utilized the southern portion of Sangley Point (Punta de Sangley) as a carbonera, a place for deposit and dispensation of coal which was brought in from Europe in English ships. To guide these ships to the Punta on entering Manila Bay, the Spaniards erected a lighthouse which they called Farola on its easternmost tip. Since then, Sangley Point became a coaling station and support facility for the Spanish naval base located at Arsenal de Cavite in Fuerza de San Felipe Neri (now Fort San Felipe, Philippine Naval Base, Cavite City).
As additional means of livelihood, the Spaniards raised cattle in the place.They imported these cattle from Mexico and with them they brought in their feed which consisted of dried fruits from a certain Mexican plant. This feed was simply strewn over the place for the cattle to feed on. Unknown to the Spaniards the dried fruits contained seeds which, after imbedding in the soil, grew up covering the whole place with thorny plants which the natives called aroma. It is believed that Cavite is one, if not the only place in the Philippines where this kind of plant can be found even to this date.
In 1875, the Spaniards established a naval hospital in Sangley Point and was managed by the Sisters of Charity. It was called the Hospital de Cañacao. This hospital had served the sick and wounded Spanish soldiers all throughout the hectic days of the Philippine Revolution. It was also said that Sangley Point was made a temporary detention camp for Chinese immigrants in 1876.
In 1884, the Spaniards approved the establishment of El Varadero de Manila or Fernandez Shipyard (the vacant lot in front of the present 15th Strike Wing, PAF Headquarters) which served Sangley Point as its western boundary. El Varadero de Manila acquired the area from a British company which was granted a 99-year decree. It was inaugurated in 1885.
When the Americans came in 1898, the facilities at Sangley Point was taken over by the U.S. Naval Expeditionary Forces under the command of Commodore George Dewey. It was made a rest camp and as burial grounds by Commodore Dewey’s forces. They also used the facilities of the former Spanish Hospital de Cañacao and renamed it United States Hospital, Cañacao. However, this hospital, where new buildings were constructed in place of the old ones by the Americans, was became fully operational in 1905.
In 1904, the Americans had built warehouses on the site of the Spanish carbonera and to these had been added a wharf, machinery, mechanical shovels and cranes for the loading and unloading of coal- an improvement over the old Spanish ways and means.
Sangley Point continued to serve essentially the same function for the U.S. Navy. In 1915, three 600-foot steel antennas (destroyed during WWII) were erected for the operation of a powerful radio communications station named Radio Sangley. Later on, a submarine support facility was established. The Cavite U.S. Navy Yard (Fort San Felipe) just across Cañacao Bay became the major ship repair facility for the Asiatic fleet. However, World War II and the Japanese occupation of the Philippines interrupted the operations. in 1942.
The first bombing of Cavite City on December 10, 1941 had partially destroyed the Cavite Navy Yard. When the Japanese forces occupied Cavite on January 4,1942, they continued to use Sangley Point and Cavite Navy Yard for basically the same purpose. They rehabilitated and expanded the facilities and use them for repair of their own craft and construction of small wooden vessels for coastal shipping of supplies.
In September 1944, American carrier-based planes bombed the repair facility at the Cavite Navy Yard. It was again badly damaged as were most of its other buildings. The U.S. 11th Airborne Paratroopers liberated Cavite City on February 11, 1945. On March 20, 1945, units of the Seventh Fleet landed at Sangley Point chasing the Japanese out of the area. Within a month, ACORN-45 arrived and set up an advance base maintenance organization under Commander Donald W. Darby. They immediately began construction of an airstrip in preparation for the attack on the Japanese mainland.
The base maintenance organization was officially designated Naval Air Base, Sangley Point on October 4, 1945. In March 1947, it was redesignated as Naval Air Base Sangley Point and finally, on June 1, 1949, the base was renamed U.S. Naval Station Sangley Point and the U.S. Naval Air Station was decommissioned. Early in 1955, top-echelon planners of the U.S. Navy acknowledged the importance of Sangley Point services and designated it a permanent facility. Its primary mission was to provide maintenance, support and materials for the regional operations of U.S. Seventh Fleet.
Sangley Point was also the headquarters of Commander U.S. Naval Forces Philippines/ Commander-In-Chief Pacific Representative Philippines, considered the most important activity by U.S. Naval Station Sangley Point. It also supported two patrol squadrons, deployed in Sangley on a rotational basis to help fulfill the Mutual Defense Pact between America and the the Philippines.
The U.S. Coast Guard Air Station and its CG Ship Nettle played a vital role in search-and-rescue operations and in the maintenance of remote long-range aid-to navigation (LORAN) stations located throughout the Philippines. The American Fleet Weather Facility was tasked with furnishing weather information to ships and aircraft operating in the Western Pacific and East China Sea areas.
The U.S. Naval Station Sangley Point also provided support for one Fleet Air Wing detachment, a Naval Communications Center, Marine Barracks, a Recruiting Detachment, and Navy Exchange and Commisssary Stores.
Early in December 1970, it was officially announced that U.S. Naval Station Sangley Point would be closed. On June 5, 1971, its transfer to the Philippine Government was effected within the framework of the Military Assistance Agreement. On the 19th of the same month, the Sangley Point Interim Inter-Agency Committee was created by Executive Order No. 324 of then President Ferdinand E. Marcos. It was tasked to prescribe policies and to provide guidelines in the administration and operation of the Sangley Point Complex.
On July 1, 1971, Sangley Point changed status from active to inactive in preparation for the turn-over of the facility to the Philippine Government. The Sangley Point Closure Detail was activated by the Americans under the command of an Officer-In-Charge with a 95-man, 7 offiicer contigent. On September 1, 1971, Sangley Point naval base was officially turned-over to the government of the Philippines, thus ending 73 historic years as a U.S. Naval facility. The Philippine Navy became the “caretaker” agency of the Philippine Government administering the assets which were transferred by the U.S. Government. The Philippine Task Group under the 205th Composite Wing of the Philippine Air Force then occupied the areodrome facilities. On May 15, 1972, the PAF Task Group gave way to the 240th Composite Wing pursuant to General Orders No. 360, HPAF, NAB, Pasay City dated 4 May 1972.
Source:
Imbestigador ng Bayan Online
Face Book Page May 7, 2015
Leon Junn Evangelista Young
Historical Researcher
29 August 2002
Photo c/o : https://commons.wikimedia.org
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