City in Mactan readies shrine for Lapulapu
LANDMARK The iconic 20-meter bronze statue of Cebu chieftain Lapulapu at Liberty Shrine in Barangay Mactan, Lapu-Lapu City.—CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
CEBU CITY, Cebu, Philippines — Plans to provide Cebu chieftain Lapulapu a special place that befits his contributions to Philippine history are in the offing.
Cindi King Chan, wife of Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Junard Chan and the former chair of the city’s Tourism Cultural and Historical Affairs Commission, said the laying of the time capsule for Lapulapu Memorial Shrine and Museum is set on April 27.
The museum will feature collections showing the life of Lapulapu, the first Filipino hero who led a group of natives in defeating Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan and the Spanish soldiers on Mactan Island in Cebu province in 1521.
President Duterte, who had previously announced his intent to provide Lapulapu a statue higher than that of Magellan at their current location at the city’s Liberty Shrine, was invited to the event, she said.
Liberty Shrine, believed to be where the site where the Battle of Mactan took place and where Magellan was killed, is a park that prominently displayed both the statues of Lapulapu and the Portuguese explorer. The new museum will be built inside the park.
Lapulapu’s 20-meter bronze statue at Liberty Shrine, showing him holding a long cutlass in one hand and a shield in the other, will be transferred inside the new museum and will be replaced by a monument that will accurately portray the Battle of Mactan, said Rene Escalante, chair of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines.
“It was never mentioned that it was Lapulapu who personally killed or delivered the blow that killed Magellan. It was a collective effort,” Escalante explained in an earlier interview.
Lapu-Lapu City, which occupies Mactan Island along with the town of Cordova, will hold the 501st anniversary of the Battle of Mactan and the closing ceremony of the city’s Quincentennial Commemorations also on April 27. The quincentennial celebration commemorated the 500th anniversary of the arrival of Magellan and the Spanish soldiers in Cebu in 1521, the victory of Lapulapu over Magellan in the Battle of Mactan, and the first circumnavigation of the world.
—NESTLE SEMILLA AND ADOR VINCENT MAYOL
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