Lapu-Lapu is known as the first native of the archipelago to have resisted Spanish colonization in a battle which resulted in the death of Ferdinand Magellan.
Lapu-Lapu was the king of Mactan, an island in the Visayas. Magellan had earlier forced the king of the neighboring island of Cebu to convert to Christianity and pledge allegiance to the Spanish king. However Lapu-Lapu had refused to submit. Magellan sent a party of sailors to Mactan to burn villages on the island. On the morning of 27 April 1521, Magellan and a larger force returned to Mactan to end the revolt.
Lapu-Lapu and the men of Mactan, armed with spears and kampilan, faced the Spanish soldiers led by Magellan. The battle would later be known as the Battle of Mactan. Magellan and a number of his men were killed, and the Psanish ships promptly left the island.
Definitive and Official overprint #597 and O60, 16 Aug 1955
Definitive and Official overprint #859 and O67, 20 Oct 1963
City of Manila, New Official Seal #953, 954 and detail, 2 Dec 1999
Surcharge #1070, 26 Oct 1970
Surcharge #1118, 20 Apr 1972
Surcharge #1235, 1 Aug 1974
Bureau of Immigration, 50th Anniversary #3621, 4 Sept 2015
Statue of Lapu Lapu
Battle of Mactan, 500th Anniversary #xxx, 21 April 2021
Statue of Lapu Lapu (Liberty Shrine, Lapu-lapu City, Cebu)
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