“What defines a hero?

Five hundred years ago through the valor of just one man, Spain was forced to postpone for about 45 years the
plan to colonize our country. Thus, there once were two more generations of our forefathers who lived free from the
yoke of Spain, thanks to this warrior. The hero is none other than the valiant Lapu-lapu.

What we know about Lapu-lapu was mostly written by those who survived or who had first hand information
about the Battle of Mactan ( a great example is Antonio Pigafetta, the chronicler of Magellan). Despite of being Lapu-
lapu’s own enemies, their writings contain nothing negative about Lapu-lapu. Rather, it’s the noteworthy qualities about
him that can be gleaned.

Lapu-lapu was known as an intelligent and courageous leader by how he planned the Battle of Mactan. By the
inferiority of their weapons, Lapu-lapu and his men were never scared but were very fierce. In fact, it was noted that he
was able to steer Magellan into attacking during low tide that caused Magellan and his men wade a long distance from
their ships to the shore. When Magellan finally got to the shore, Lapu-lapu attacked from three directions: front and
flanks—a classic maneuver that every battle commander would dream of. Individually, Lapu-lapu’s men did not fight
mindlessly; rather, they targeted with their fire-hardened bamboo spears and poisoned arrows the unprotected areas of
Magellan’s men. According to Antonio Pigafetta, they shot their legs because at that time, those were the only parts that
were bare; the rest were covered with metals.

Lapu-lapu was seen by his enemies not just as courageous and a good tactician, but as a principled amn as well.
When he was being forced to bow down to the King Battle of Spain and to the Cebu raja, Humabon, Lapu-lapu did not
succumb to the threat; And when the Spaniards through Humabon tried to bribr Lapu-lapu into recovering Magellan’s
body after the battle, Lapu-lapu’s principled answer was (according to Antonio Pigaafetta), “We will not give away the
capatain’s body for all the riches in the world, because his body is the trophy of our victory against invaders of our
shore”.

With his deep sense of nationalism and bravery, Lapu-lapu is like an ancient warrior who proves to the world
that Philippines is for the Filipinos only. He is seen by many as a symbol important in helping Filipinos shape their
identity that he first became a face on the one centavo coin in 1967, at a time when nationalist fervor was at an all-time
high. This was a time when Filipinos were trying to figure out what it meant to be “Filipino”. Lapu-lapu beyond any
question of history and politics, was a symbol of a ‘native Filipino’ successfully fighting off the colonial aggressor. In their
search for identity, Filipinos clung on to whatever image they could find of Philippines untainted by ‘foreign influence’—
and the result was Lapu-lapu.

There are arguments questioning about the happenings in the Battle of Mactan and that Lapu-lapu did not really
kill Magellan. But the bottomline is his courage and leadership definitely caused the Spaniards to flee back to Spain thus,
allowing the future Philippine islands free from European colonizers for the next half century.

As the Philippines’ first known hero, Lapu-lapu left quite a legacy. He did it through his extraordinary bravery
and love for his own land. At the end of the day, if you’re going to ask what defines a hero? The greatness of Lapu-lapu
does.