The island of Mactan

The most popular place nearby Cebu city is the island of Mactan. This place had played an important role in the Philippine history. Mactan is the most significant place of the first resistant of the Filipinos against foreign invasion and it is called the Battle of Mactan which Lapu – Lapu the first Filipino hero emerge.

On 16 March 1521, Magellan sighted the mountains of what is now Samar while on a mission to find a westward route to the Moluccas Islands for Spain. This event marked the arrival of the first Europeans in the Archipelago. The following day, Magellan ordered his men to anchor their ships on the shores of Homonhon Island. There, he befriended Rajah Calambu the chieftain of Limasawa, who guided him to Cebu. He, and his queen were baptized into the Catholic faith, taking the Christian names Carlos, in honor of King Charles of Spain, and Juana, in honor of King Charles' mother. To commemorate this event, Magellan gave Juana the Santo Niño, an image of the infant Jesus, as a symbol of their new alliance. As a result of Magellan’s influence with Rajah Humabon, an order had been issued to the nearby chiefs that each of them were to provide food supplies for the ships, and convert to Christianity.

Most chiefs obeyed the order. However, Datu Lapu-Lapu, one of the two chiefs within the island of Mactan, was the only chieftain to show his opposition. Lapu-Lapu had recently converted to Islam and refused to accept the authority of Rajah Humabon in these matters. This opposition proved to be influential when Antonio Pigafetta, Magellan’s voyage chronicler, writes, Zula, the second chief of the island of Mactan, sent one of his sons to present two goats to the captain-general, and to say that he would send him all that he had promised, but that he had not been able to send it to him because of the other chief Lapu-Lapu, who refused to obey the king of Spain.

Rajah Humabon and Datu Zula suggested that Magellan go to the island of Mactan and force his subject chieftain Datu Lapu-Lapu to comply with his orders. Magellan saw an opportunity to strengthen the existing friendship ties with the ruler of the Visaya region and agreed to help him subdue the rebellious Lapu-Lapu.

At midnight armed men of Magellan went to the island of Mactan to subdue the great Datu Lapu- Lapu and to bring Christianity in that area. Magellan had given ultimatum to Lapu- Lapu to obey the king of Spain and accept Christianity but Datu Lapu – Lapu refused to pay tribute.

Hens forth, next morning Magellan deployed armored men with swords, axes, shields, crossbows and guns, and sailed for Mactan in the morning of April 28. Filipino historians note that because of the rocky outcroppings, and coral near the beach, the Christian soldiers could not land on Mactan. Forced to anchor their ships far from shore, Magellan could not bring his ships' firepower to bear on Datu Lapu-Lapu's warriors, who numbered more than 1,500.

When morning came, forty-nine men leaped into the water up to our thighs, and walked through water for more than two cross-bow flights before reaching the shore. The boats could not approach nearer because of certain rocks in the water. The other eleven men remained behind to guard the boats. When they reached land, [the natives] had formed in three divisions to the number of more than one thousand five hundred persons. When they saw us, they charged down upon us with exceeding loud cries... The musketeers and crossbow-men shot from a distance for about a half-hour. Magellan then tried to scare them off by burning some houses in what is now Buaya, known then as Bulaia.

But this had only caused great fury to the natives that lead to the slow defeat of the army of Magellan. Many of the warriors attacked Magellan; he was wounded in the arm with a spear and in the leg by a kampilan. With this advantage, the Lapu-Lapu's troops finally overpowered, and killed him. He was stabbed, and hacked by spears and swords. Pigafetta and the others managed to escape.

Magellan's allies, Humabon and Zula, were said not to have taken part in the battle due to Magellan's bidding, and watched from a distance. Pigafetta reports that the Christian king Humabon sent a message saying that if they return the bodies of Magellan and his crew, they would give as much merchandise as they wished. Magellan’s body, however, was never recovered from the natives.Some of the soldiers who survived the battle and returned to Cebu were poisoned while attending a feast given by Humabon.

The great Datu Lapu-Lapu

Today, Lapu-Lapu is retroactively honoured as the first "Philippine national hero" to resist foreign rule, though formally the territory of the "Philippine Islands" had yet to be established or even named at the time. He is remembered by a number of commemorations: statues on the island of Mactan and the Cebu Provincial Capitol, a city bearing his name, and a local variety of red grouper fish.

There is a spot in Mactan Island called the Mactan shrine where the battle is re-enacted during its anniversary. In the same shrine, next to the Lapu-Lapu statue, there is a semi-destroyed obelisk erected in Magellan's honor by the Spanish colonial authorities and defaced shortly after the US military occupation of the Philippines.

Magellan is also honoured for bringing Christianity to the Philippines in general and the Santo Niño (Child Jesus) to Cebu in particular. The Magellan's Cross and the aforementioned Magellan's shrine were erected in Cebu City and Mactan Island. Many landmarks and infrastructures all over the Philippines bear Magellan's name, mostly using its Spanish spelling (Magallanes), which is also a widely used Filipino surname.