In his mission to try to find a westward route to the Moluccas Islands for Spain, Ferdinand Magellan discovered Samar on March 16, 1521. The next day his ships anchored in the shores of Homonhon. The chieftains of Limasawa Rajah Kulambu and Rajah Siagu received Magellan’s arrival with hospitality. They and their queens converted into the Catholic faith and guided him to Cebu. As an honor Magellan gave them the Santo Nino as a gift and also to mark their alliance. Because of Magellan’s influence on Rajah Humabon, nearby chiefs were ordered to convert to Christianity and to supply Magellan’s ships with food. All of the chiefs complied with the order except the two Datus of Mactan of which one was Datu Lapu-Lapu who was very stern in his refusal to accept Christianity. According to the written records of Magellan’s chronicler, Antonio Pigafetta, the second chief sent his son to Magellan to explain to him that he would have met the terms and orders of the King of Spain to convert and provide food had it not been for Lapu-Lapu’s disagreement.
The Datus Rajah Humabon and Zula heard of the opposition and advised Magellan to join forces with him and the other chieftains and use power in persuading Lapu-Lapu to comply with the orders. The Captain saw this as an opportunity to strengthen his ties with the ruler and agreed to help him. Antonio Pigaffeta’s accounts in the journey narrates that Magellan made efforts to convince Lapu-Lapu to follow Rajah Humabon’s orders the night before their encounter but didn’t succeed.
In the midnight of April 27, 1521, 70 armored men along with Magellan and the Chieftains sailed towards Mactan riding the balanguais, a type of Filipino boat, at about 20 to 30 in number and arrived hours before dawn. The captain tried a last effort in persuading Lapu-Lapu by sending one of the natives to tell him to obey the King of Spain and pay their tributes or else they will be forced to use their lances. But the reply they received was that if they had lances, Lapu-Lapu’s men had bamboos sharpened and toughened with fire. According to Pigaffeta it was part of their strategy when they asked Magellan not to attack immediately and to let the morning come so that they may have more men. He said that they said that in order to tempt them to look for Lapu-Lapu’s men because they have dug trap holes for them to fall on to while they searched.
In April 28, Magellan set out and 50 armed men went towards Mactan. Unfortunately, the corals of the beach forced them to anchor their ship far from the shores of the island so that they had to walk in the water for a time before they got to the island. Also, because of the distance, Magellan had no choice but to leave his Howitzers behind which he intended to use on the warriors of Lapu-Lapu which ranged in an estimate of 1,000 plus men.
The battle started when Magellan and his men neared the island. They saw that the army of Lapu-Lapu divided into three groups. When the warriors saw the foreigners, they started screaming and rushing towards them. For half an hour the Spaniards kept shooting their crossbows but to no avail. Lapu-Lapu and his men eventually came into contact with them as Magellan and his men came into the island.
Pigaffeta wrote that Magellan meant to scare the warriors by burning their houses. Instead this provoked them more and they became furious and started attacking resulting in the death of some of his men. When a poisoned arrow hit Magellan in the right leg, he gave the order to retreat slowly but they all ran away except 8 of them including Pigaffeta who escorted the captain. Lapu-Lapu’s men targeted their legs because they had no armor in that part of their body. Magellan himself received a blow in the leg from a kampilan(a long edged Muslim sword) and a spear in the arm. He was able to kill a warrior with his lance but his injuries made him weak and was finally outnumbered and stabbed and killed by the mob all at once. It was said in Pigaffeta’s records that Magellan resisted the force in order for his men to make it safely to the boat. When they got aboard the ship they saw them behead Magellan.
Datus Humabon and Zula did not participate in the battle because of Magellan’s request for them not to. They observed from a distance and after the battle negotiated with Lapu-Lapu to return his corpse in exchange for merchandise. But Lapu-Lapu refused and up until now Magellan’s remains were never recovered. It is said that the soldiers who survived the battle of Mactan were poisoned in a feast given by Humabon resulting in the order of Juan Sebastian del Cano,successor of Magellan, to depart immediately and return to Spain in fear of Humabon’s betrayal.
In the Philippines, Lapu-Lapu is known as the first National Hero to fight against outside forces. Whatever the accounts were, it is true that he did succeed in his refusal to acknowledge a foreign king as his ruler.
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