Oh no, the Spanish did not mistook the image as some sort of Pagan Idol and threw it in the sea, nor is it an actual idol. It is the image of Our Lady, depicting her Immaculate Conception.

Actually, no one knows how the image wound up in Juan Maningcad's net while he was fishing in the river. Although there have been two theories as to how it happened.

One theory posists that the crew of a galleon ship threw the image of Our Lady into the sea in hopes of pacifying the raging waters, and then it wound up into the river.

Another one is that it was accidentally dropped into the river by someone just passing by and was unable to retrieve it.

However the image came to us is irrelevant, what matters most is that it is God's Providence that the people of Taal should receive such a wonderous image of the Mother of God.