Today in Cebu History: April 27

Kadaugan sa Mactan has been recounted a lot of times through a dramatic skit played by famous actors/actresses every April 27 (a special Holiday in Lapu-Lapu City) at the Mactan Shrine shores where it was believed to have transpired. But what really happened there, exactly? Let's look back at the actual happenings of the famed Battle of Mactan long ago in 1521.

****

Friday midnight of April 26, 1521 Portuguese Explorer Ferdinand Magellan sent a message to the warriors of Mattan (Mactan) thru a Moor messenger stating that if they would obey the king of Spain, recognize the Christian king (Rajah Humabon) as their sovereign, and pay tribute, he would be their friend; but that if they wished otherwise, they should be expecting a bloody lances to end offered camaraderie.

The brave warriors of Mattan (Mactan) replied “if they had lances, we have lances of bamboo and stakes hardened with fire”

On Saturday morning of April 27, 1521, forty nine of Magellan’s men, including him, leaped into the waters of Mattan (Mactan) and engaged the native warriors of Datu Lapu-lapu. In the ensuing battle, the Captain Ferdinand Magellan had been shot through the leg with a poisoned arrow. A crowd of Cebuano warriors surrounded him and one stuck a javelin through on his leg. Magellan collapsed and was soon hacked to pieces.

Datu Cilapulapu (Lapu-lapu), a feared warrior, instructed his men to strike with pestle or with a club and not to waste their spears and bolos on the advancing enemy so that when the enemy’s armor coat is dented, the man inside can never move. It is then that they are susceptible in their weapons of death. Lapu-lapu was wounded and lost 29 men, Magellan’s men retreated back to their boats leaving behind his dead body and other eight men on the waters of Mattan (Mactan).

Researched By:

Diego Salvador

Sources:
The First Voyage Around the World, 1519-1522 By Antonio Pigafetta, Theodore J. Cachey
Aginid, Bayok sa Atong Tawarik by Jovito Abellana