Santo Niño de Cebú
The Santo Niño de Cebú ("Holy Child of Cebu") is a Roman Catholic figure of the Child Jesus highly similar to the Infant Jesus of Prague. Like the image's counterpart in Prague, the figure is clothed in expensive textile robes mostly donations from fervent devotees in the Philippines and abroad. The statue is permanently housed at the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño in Cebu City.
In April 1521, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, in the service of Charles I of Spain, arrived in Cebu during his voyage to find a westward route to the Indies.[1] He persuaded Rajah Humabon and his wife Humamay, to pledge their allegiance with Spain. They were later baptized into the Catholic faith, taking the Christian names Carlos and Juana. Magellan presented the Santo Niño to the newly-baptised Queen Juana as a symbol of the alliance. To her husband Carlos, Magellan presented the bust of the "Ecce Homo", or the depiction of Christ before Pontius Pilate. He gave an image of Our Lady to the natives who were later baptised with their rulers. However, Magellan died later on April 27, 1521 in the battle that took place in Mactan, leaving the image behind. After initial efforts by the natives to destroy it, as legends say, it endured and prevailed to become a pagan idol. The Cebuanos revered the image of the Santo Niño as Bathala, and most probably anointed the image with oil or offered sacrifices to it while invoking for its assistance.
source: wikipedia
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