Kolonghay, Lady of the Kingdom of Banawa

Cebu's chronicler, Manuel Enriquez dela Calzada, in his book "Legends of the Sto. Niño de Cebu" printed in 1965 tells of the story of Kolonghay and the prelude to subsequent miracles of the Santo Niño.

The books said that days before the ships of Magellan were bound for Cebu (Banawa was to be the landing site) from Limasawa, there was tournament for the hand of Kolonghay to be held six days after. The purpose of the tournament was to determine who among the eligible young men of the kingdom would become the husband of Kolonghay.

Kolonghay, was the daughter of a high subaltern of King Humabon and as such was given the honor and privilege of holding the tournament because daughters of lesser ranks were not given this honor. Kolonghay was a girl of beauty, of brown features, straight black hair, in short, she was a beauty worthy of a joust.

There were many who appeared for the tournament and took center stage, but one came not from the kingdom of Banawa but from the kingdom of Mactan, a man by the name of Bali-alho, who carried with him nothing but his spear and had no gift to offer but he challenged all the contestants to a fight. Nobody dared to challenge Balialho as he was known to be a great fighter. But one answered the challenge, and to the crowd's surprise it was a young boy.

Since the crowd cheered for the boy, Bali-alho, who earlier refused to fight the boy, started the fight. Bali-alho hurled his spear at the boy who side-stepped and as the spear passed by his side, kicked it into two pieces. The young boy then picked up the cut spear and hurled it back at Bali-alho who was hit in his thigh. The friends of Bali-alho got angry and joined the fight and attacked the boy. Kolonghay interceded that the friends of Bali-alho should not join the fight. One spear was about to hit Kolonghay but the boy blocked it and was hit in his chest. A blood of river gushed forth from the wound. Then there was the loud thunder of a cannon. It was from the ships of Magellan who was then met by King Humabon, and the boy was left all alone.

When Kolonghay came back to the fight scene, the boy was no longer there. What was left was the ground stained with blood in the form of a cross. The boy's disappearance was a mystery. But when Magellan presented the image of the Santo Niño, the people agreed that it was the same boy who saved Kolonghay.