Lapu Lapu on Philippine Stamps

LAPU-LAPU

unknown (early 1500s)

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.