Lapu Lapu Shrine - Valiant Hero versus European Conqueror

When I was a child, I remembered visiting this site. It was this statue of a valiant warrior named Lapu Lapu, a less-than-noble Bornean who migrated to Cebu with the blessings of Rajah Humabon and his queen Maniwangtiwang. He fought for his domicile against the conquistadors lead by Ferdinand Magellan (Fernando Magallanes in the Latin American world). Fast forward to the new millennium. The site has been turned into a park, well cordoned by concrete gates. It still faces a muddy shore now lined by mangroves. This is the Lapu Lapu Shrine located in (drum roll, please!) Lapu Lapu City, in the island of Mactan.

The center piece is a 20-meter (66 feet) bronze statue in Punta Engano. Lapu lapu is considered the very first national hero of the Philippines; the first to resist the mighty Spaniards. Magellan was on a mission to map the Asian route to the "Spice Islands" (specifically to get their hands on cloves and nutmegs for the preservation of food during the pre-refrigeration era.)

The shrine's location is a bit out of the way from Cebu City where most tourists  base their travels, but if you're visiting guitar-making villages and some of the posh resorts of Mactan, then this is a perfect part of the itinerary. A taxi bay is situated just outside this shrine (PhP200 or less back to Cebu City). Or you can commute with the multicabs (they're a bit smaller than the Manila jeepneys) back to Lapu-Lapu City center (@PhP8) regularly plying the road just outside the shrine. And if I have to mention, this is the exact site where Lapu Lapu fought and killed the Portuguese explorer Magellan during the Battle of Mactan in 1521.

Some deaths are another man's triumph.

This is the Eye in the Sky!

Magellan's Shrine is also seen in the same compound.

Mangroves and the sea beyond. During high tide, this land is filled with sea water.

Fort San Pedro - Cebu City

Fort San Pedro is a defensive military structure built a few days after the arrival of Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, the Spanish conquistador, who in 1565 built the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines - 44 years after Ferdinand Magellan's "discovery" of the Philippines.

An official report in 1739 described it as triangular in shape and made of mortar and stone. Its three bastions (defensive sides) are named La Concepcion, San Ignacio de Loyola and San Miguel. However, records show that 11 days after the arrival of Legaspi, the construction of the fort (which commenced on May 8, 1565) was fast-tracked to provide immediate security in the area. It was originally made of a triangular wooden palisade situated on a promontory and enclosing a few "wells" of fresh water, one is still operation. The two sides facing the sea were defended by artillery while the side facing the land was sufficiently defended by a thick wall.

The fort was named Fort San Pedro, in honor of Legaspi's flagship, the same ship that was sent back to Mexico after the establishment of the first Spanish settlement in Cebu. I do wonder why Mexico, and not Spain.

The significance of the fort rests on its being a physical evidence of the arrival of the Spaniards in the Philippines, building a settlement that eventually grew into an empire all throughout the Philippine archipelago. The Spaniards then ruled the country for the next 500 years.

This is the Eye in the Sky!



Entrance to the Fort. There's a cheap P30 entrance fee for adults; cheaper if you're a student.


The Santo Nino looking from above the fort entrance.






This building used to house a small museum that has since been moved elsewhere. It presently holds some letters written by Andres Bonifacio and some weapons used by the revolutionaries.



Our Lady of the Fort - Our Virgin of the Remedies: The 2nd oldest image of the Virgin Mary in the country is Nuestra Senora de la Cotta found in the Cathedral of Cebu City. This image, according to traditional Cebuanos, was found in a well that was in the Cotta (fort) between 1570 to 1575. This discovery proved to be "miraculous" due to the water in the well used by local folk to cure illnesses.

The statue is small, with an infant in her arms. The sculpture was European, and venerated by the locals in the chapel of the fort until the mid-1900s when it was eventually transferred to the Cathedral of Cebu. Its feast day is celebrated every 18th of December (five days ago from this posting).







The way out.





The gradually ascending ramp way leading towards the frontal bastion.


The upper portion of the port has gardens and plants - even coconuts.


A cannon directed towards Plaza Independencia.


















Here are a few photos of how the fort looked like back in the days:

A triangular fort with its 3 bastions which were partly destroyed again during the earthquake of 2014.





The grounds within the fort.


Fort San Pedro circa 1920.


The earliest fort, made of wood, constructed 11 days after the arrival of Miguel Lopez de Legaspi in 1565. This was gradually modified in stages; wood is replaced by stone and mortar.


Portraits of Ferdinand Magellan (left), the Portuguese who headed the first Spanish expedition that reached the Philippines in 1521; and of Miguel Lopez de Legaspi (right) who, in 1565, founded the first Spanish settlement in Cebu. He became the first governor general of this settlement.


The arrival of the Spanish fleet; the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines.

Heritage of Cebu Monument at the Parian Park Cebu

The Heritage of Cebu Monument rises on a gated triangular patch of land called Parian Park bordered by three narrow streets in Barangay Parian, a few hops from the northern tip of Colon. It’s an eye-popping showcase of artistry that mostly depicts the start of colonial rule in the country. In it elaborate artistry, the struggle for freedom isn’t lost on us. This pastiche of handpicked events are an amalgam of what transpired in a historical past peppered by hundreds of years of colonial invasions – from the Spaniards to the Americans and the Japanese, though the spine tingling, albeit horrific invasion of Japan has been stricken out from this collection.

Commissioned during the time of Mayor Alvin Garcia, the monument was an original idea of the artist Eduardo Castrillo and the mayor. Conceptualized in 1996, construction of the monument began in 1997 and took 3 years to complete (December 8, 2000). According to The Freeman, during the excavation for its foundation, artifacts of pre-Spanish Cebuanos were dug out, which unearthed skeletons and several stonewares, plates and jars. There was indeed evidence that local civilization flourished way before the arrival of Ferdinand Magelllan, the iconic “discoverer” of the Philippines – as though the country only started to matter once he set foot on our soils. This one coming from men who wore tights and, on occasion, skirts. Such conceit, indeed.

On cursory glance, we can enumerate some of its detail: the arrival of Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan and his Spanish crew of 150 in huge galleon ships; the introduction of Christianity, and the country’s first mass; a Santo Nino procession; the fierce Battle of Mactan with chieftain Lapu Lapu leading the pack; the revolution of 1896, and, curiously, a statue of the imposing Manuel Quezon, the first President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines (as sanctioned by the United States of America) who envisioned the possible annexation of the country into U.S. statehood.

The park's surrounding area is residential, but just across the entrance, you will find the Pari-an Fire Station, circa 1954, one of the oldest existing fire stations in the country. Just beside it is a small Chapel of San Juan Bautista (John the Baptist). Crossing the street will get you to the Yap-San Diego House, known to be the oldest preserved residential dwelling in the country which has been turned into a museum.

The past continually guides us so that we don’t commit the same mistakes, nor allow intrusions into our sovereignty.

This is the Eye in the Sky!

Ferdinand Magellan























Chieftain Lapu Lapu





Manuel L. Quezon


The first mass held in the Philippines happened on Easter Sunday, March 31, 1531. It transpired in an island named Mazaua, as witnessed by Antonio Pigafetta, Gines de Mafra, Frnacisco Albo, and Martin de Ayamonte in Limasawa, a town at the tip of southern Leyte, now Butuan City.


Parian Fire Station circa 1954


San Juan Bautista Chapel


Some European tourists checking out the monument.