Gil Pérez

At first, I was doubtful to its genuineness. Well, maybe because the first time I found this, only one website tells his life. Others, were just duplicates of the same story. I was also finding some hard proofs, though I found nothing, however many claimed it true. I also notice some wrong details in the story of the site I first found.

Anyway, let's document first the facts in his said story one by one.

Story

[Taken from Internet:[1]]

Gil Pérez was a Spanish soldier of the Filipino Guardia Civil who allegedly suddenly appeared in the Plaza Mayor of Mexico City (more than 9,000 nautical miles from Manila, across the Pacific) on October 24, 1593. He was wearing the uniform of the guards of Palacio Del Gobernador in the Philippines, and claimed he had no idea how he had arrived in Mexico. Perez claimed that moments before finding himself in Mexico he had been on sentry duty in Manila at the governor’s palace. He admitted that while he was aware that he was no longer in the Philippines, he had no idea where he was or how he had gotten there. He said that moments before he arrived there, His Excellency the Governor of the Philippines, Gomez Perez Dasmariñas had been killed by Chinese pirates. He explained that after long hours of duty in Manila, he felt faint, leaned against a wall and closed his eyes; he said he opened his eyes a second later to find himself somewhere different. When it was explained to him that he was now in Mexico City, Perez refused to believe it saying that he had received his orders on the morning of October 23 in Manila and that it was therefore impossible for him to be in Mexico City on the evening of the 24th. The authorities placed Perez in jail as a deserter and for the possibility that he may have been in the service of Satan. The Most Holy Tribunal of the Inquisition questioned the soldier, but all he could say in his defense was that he had travelled from Manila to Mexico “in less time than it takes a cock to crow”. Two months later, news from the Philippines arrived by Manila Galleon, confirming the fact of the literal axing on October 23 of Dasmariñas in a mutiny of Chinese rowers, as well as other points of the mysterious soldier’s fantastic story. Witnesses confirmed that Gil Perez had indeed been on duty in Manila just before arriving in Mexico. Furthermore, one of the passengers on the ship recognized Perez and swore that he had seen him in the Philippines on October 23. Gil Perez eventually returned to the Philippines and took up his former position as a palace guard, living thenceforth an apparently uneventful life.

This is the first article I found which made me believed Gil Perez's story isn't real.

Facts of the Case

Teleportation

In some dictionary, teleportation is simply defined as moving instantly from one place to another. It came from a Greek word tele which means far away or distant, and a Latin word portare which means to carry.[2]

In the internet, teleportation is the theoritical transfer of matter from one point to another without traversing the physical space between them. Charles Fort was the first person who named strange disappearances and appearances of anomalies.[3]

Gomez Perez Dasmarinas y Ribadeneira

Gomez Perez Dasmarinas y Ribadeneira was the 7th Governor and Captain-General of the Philippines from June 1, 1590 to October 25, 1593.[4]

He organized a secret expedition to the Moluccas to capture the fort at Terrenate. Before he sailed, he sent first his son Luis Perez Dasmarinas on ahead with part of the fleet to the province of Pintado. The governor left Philippines in charge of Diego Ronquillo and Pedro de Rojas. Gomez sailed together with fourty Spaniards, and the Chinese rowers, who according to Antonio de Morga were unchained to win their good will. However, on the second day of the expedition, when they reached the island of Caca, where they anchored for the night and planned rounding the Punta del Acufre on the next day, the guards and the sleeping Spaniards were attacked by the Chinese rowers after the last watch at dawn. Governor Gomez Perez Dasmarinas was killed by the Chinese rowers waiting outside his cabin.[3]

The rebels then rowed to China in the galley. As they reached Cochin, China, their king confiscated two cannons and the valuable items. Some of the rebels were capture in Malacca and brought back to Manila where they faced punishment.

Palacio del Gobernador

The Palacio del Gobernador was the first residence of the Spanish Governor General from 1645 till 1863, when an earthquake brought it down, before transfering to Malacanang Palace.

Filipino Guardia Civil

Guardia Civil (or Civil Guards) was a local gendarmerie police force organized under the Spanish colonial government. It was formed in 1868 and was disbanded after the Spanish-American War in 1898 and replaced by Philippine Constabulary.[5]

About

One of our readers made me curious to the real life of Gil Perez. That's the reason why I updated this article. (S)He commented that there's a problem on the story I found and there were errors introduced on it. So I enumerated the facts of the case (see above). (S)He is correct indeed, there were wrong information in the story.

First of all, there's no guardia civil in late 16th century. They were created in 1868. Perhaps, the author mistakenly thought that the palace guards in that time were also called guardia civils. Therefore, Gil Perez is a palace guard in Palacio del Gobernador.

The said date, October 24, 1593, is doubtful also. It is true that Governor Gomez Perez Dasmarinas was killed by Chinese rebel, but not on 24th of October but instead 25th. (I don't know who among the two - the author or wikipedia.com, tells the truth.) Aside of that, as Gil Perez was defending himself in front of the Mexican officials, he said that he received orders on the morning of 23th of October, evidencing that the strange incident occured in 24th. Okay, let's just assume that the incident occured instead in 25th to avoid the confusion.

I would like to reconstruct the story according to my understanding.

On October 25, 1593, Gil Perez was on his duty of guarding the Palacio del Gobernador (Governor's Palace) in the Philippines. As he was doing his job, he felt faint and decided to lean against the wall, and closed his eyes to relax his body. However, when he opened his eyes a second later, he noticed his surrounding changed. The Spanish guard was terrified upon realizing that he was no longer in the place were he was supposed to be. He had no idea where actually he was or how he got there. The place where he appeared suddenly was in Plaza Mayor of Mexico City. It was explained to him by Mexican officials that he was now in Mexico City. At first, Perez refused to believe it saying that he had received his orders on the morning of October 24 in Manila, making it impossible to him to be in Mexico City, which is thousand miles away from Manila City. (Of course, there's no airplane that time, so it is really impossible for them to travel and arrive in an instant.) He also told the officials that Governor Gomez Perez Dasmarinas was killed in the same day at morning. The authorities put him in jail accusing him being a deserter of the Philippine guards, and for the possibility that he may have been in the service of Satan. When he was questioned by The Most Holy Tribunal of the Inquisition for witchcraft, his answer was constant, that he travelled from Manila to Mexico in all of a sudden, as if in less time than it takes a cock to crow. After two months, a news coming from the Philippines, arrived through Manila Galleon, saved him. It was confirmed that the Governor was really killed by the Chinese rowers mutiny. There were also witnesses that they really saw Gil Perez on duty in the Philippines before appearing in Mexico City. One of the passengers of the galleon ship recognized and swore that he indeed seen him. Eventually, he returned home, then assumed his real position as a palace guard, never knowing the reason how he got there.

According to one of our readers, there is a document that can attest the genuineness of the Gil Perez's story. It can be found in the Archives in Sevilla and Mexico City.

Whether this is just an urban legend or a fact, however this really made a question to everyone. Well, urban legends somehow came from reality before it was morphed.

If you know any information concerning Gil Perez's case, or found any error on the story in this article, just e-mail us or send us a message to our facebook page. It will be a very big help not only to me, but to our readers as well. Thank you.

Last Updated: February 09, 2014

Sources:
[1] http://cogitz.com/2009/09/09/the-mysterious-case-of-gil-perez/
[2] Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2005 Microsoft Corporation.
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teleportation
[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gomez_Perez_Dasmarinas
[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Guard_(Philippines)
Image source:
http://billanu.tumblr.com/post/2705750022/the-mysterious-case-of-gil-perez

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