15 Facts About Lapulapu

Lapulapu is known for the 1521 Battle of Mactan, where he and his men defeated Spanish forces led by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan and his native allies Rajah Humabon and Datu Zula.

Monuments of Lapulapu have been built all over the Philippines to honor Lapulapu's bravery against the Spaniards.

However, this meaning for Si or Ci in Lapulapu's recorded name is doubtful because not all names recorded by Pigafetta contain it, as would be the case if it were.

Lapulapu asked Humabon for a place to settle, and the king offered him the region of Mandawili, including the island known as Opong, hoping that Lapulapu's people would cultivate the land.

Lapulapu began raiding merchant ships passing the island of Opong, affecting trade in Sugbo.

Lapulapu was one of the two datus of Mactan before the Spanish arrived in the archipelago, the other being Zula, both of whom belong to the Maginoo class.

Magellan repeated his offer not to attack them if Lapulapu swore fealty to Rajah Humabon, obeyed the Spanish king, and paid tribute, which Lapulapu again rejected.

Lapulapu ordered a retreat, which most of his men followed except for a few who remained to protect him.

When Magellan demanded that Lapulapu submit as his King Humabon had done, Lapulapu purportedly replied that: "he was unwilling to come and do reverence to one whom he had been commanding for so long a time".

The Aginid chronicle records that Humabon had actually purposefully goaded the Spaniards into fighting Lapulapu, who was his enemy at that time.

Lapulapu later decided to return to Borneo with his family and 17 of his men.

Lapulapu's religious beliefs are another subject of debate but it is strongly suggested that he was an adherent of the indigenous animistic anito beliefs.

The inhabitants of the Sulu Archipelago believe that Qadi Lapulapu was a Muslim belonging to the Tausug or the Sama-Bajau people of Mindanao, a claim made by the now dissolved Sultanate of Sulu that many historians negate.

Lapulapu appears on the official seal of the Philippine National Police.

Lapulapu's face was used as the main design on the 1-centavo coin that was circulated in the Philippines from 1967 to 1994.