Lapu-Lapu is now Lapulapu

CEBUANOS LAUDED President Rodrigo Duterte’s executive order correctly rendering the name of Lapu-Lapu to Lapulapu, a datu of Mactan in the Visayas and also the name of a highly urbanized city in the province of Cebu.

Lapulapu by Carlo Caacbay (2019).  Courtesy of the Historic Sites and Education Division of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines.

“Adopting a common rendering of the name of Lapulapu, so as to conform to earlier references, will aid in the education of our youth about Philippine history which is foundational to the formation of national identity,” the executive order reads.

The order also states the name Lapulapu is “understood to refer to the Filipino here who bravely and victoriously fought in the Battle of Mactan in the 16th century. Thus, all references to the name ‘Lapu-Lapu’ (in EO No. 17, as amended, and EO No. 55, as amended) is hereby amended to read as ‘Lapulapu’.”

Duterte also directed all government agencies and instrumentalities, including Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations, and state universities and colleges as well as enjoins local government units, non-government organizations, civil society groups, and the private sector to adapt “Lapulapu” when referring to the name of the first Filipino hero.

However, the official names of places such as Lapu-Lapu City, which have been established by statute, shall continue to be respected.

The earliest rendering in the Latin alphabet of the name of the hero of Mactan is “Cilapulapu,” with “Ci” apparently being an honorific title, from which the founding heroes Jose Rizal and Juan Luna derived their own references to him as “Si Lapulapu.”

The National Quincentennial Committee has reminded the public that the Mactan ruler’s name must be written as Lapulapu because he would be “the central figure of the quincentennial” and standardize the spelling for the proposed renaming of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport.

Lapulapu is best known for the Battle of Mactan that happened at dawn on April 27, 1521, where he and his warriors defeated the forces of Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan and his native allies Rajah Humabon and Datu Zula.

Magellan’s death ended his voyage of circumnavigation and delayed the Spanish occupation of the islands by over forty years until the expedition of Miguel López de Legazpi in 1564. Legazpi continued the expeditions of Magellan, leading to the colonization of the Philippines for 333 years.

Modern Philippine society regards Lapulapu as the first Filipino hero because of his resistance to imperial Spanish colonization. Monuments of Lapulapu have been built all over the Philippines to honor Lapulapu’s bravery against the Spaniards. (Cebu Examiner)