Caliph Pulaka also known as Lapu-Lapu

Caliph Pulaka also known as Lapu-Lapu

Born : 1491  Death : 1542 

 Caliph Pulaka also known as Lapu-Lapu is celebrated as one of the first persons of Mactan to resist colonization. A descendent of a royal family he was born a King in the year 1491. Known for his courage and skill in warfare, he is regarded as the first Bayani of the Visayas. Lapu-Lapu was believed to be an extraordinary and admired leader.

          His personal and environmental background shaped him not what he wanted to be but what he needed to be – a fighter for freedom from colonialism. His sense of achievement was high due to his independent thinking. Lapu-Lapu became the forefront to the many Bayani’s to come who resisted colonization. He believed in not becoming a slave of another culture, but to be free to live among one’s own culture. 

           He assumed that if he surrendered himself to colonizers, the people of the Viasayas and its neighboring islands would suffer greatly under oppression. 

Achievements

           Lapu-Lapu was the king of Mactan, an island in the Visayas, Philippines, who is known as the first native of the archipelago to have resisted Spanish colonization. He is now regarded as the first Filipino hero. 

            On the morning of April 27, 1521, Lapu-Lapu and the men of Mactan, armed with spears and kampilan, faced Spanish soldiers led by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. In what would later be known as the Battle of Mactan, Magellan and several of his men were killed. 
             According to Sulu oral tradition, Lapu-Lapu was a Muslim chieftain, and was also known as " Kaliph Pulaka". The people of Bangsamoro, the Moro homeland in the Philippines, consider him to be a Muslim and a member of the Tausug ethnic group. A variant of the name, as written by Carlos Calao, a 17th century Chinese-Spanish poet in his poem Que Dios Le Perdone ( Spanish, "That God May Forgive Him") is "Cali Pulacu". 

             The 1898 Philippine Declaration of Independence refers to Lapu-Lapu as "King Kalipulako de Maktan". In the 19th century, the reformist Mariano Ponce used a variant name, "Kalipulako", as one of his pseudonyms.

The "Battle of Mactan"

          On the morning of April 27, 1521, Lapu-Lapu and his men, armed with spears faced Spanish soldiers led by Portuguese explorer, Ferdinand Magellan. Magellan and his men invaded Mactan.  The fearless Lapu-Lapu stood firm and fought hard in what would later be known as the Battle of Mactan. The battle was furiously fought.  Magellan underestimated the fighting prowess and fierce courage of Lapu-Lapu and his men. A poisoned arrow wounded Magellan in his right leg; twice his helmet was knocked off, and a bamboo spear struck him in the face. He fell face downward, and Lapu-Lapu and his fighters pounced and killed him. The Spanish invaders were beaten and forced to retreat back onto their ships. 

          Lapu-Lapu’s belief system served a great part of his success in the Battle of Mactan. He did not back down from a technologically superior force. Lapu-Lapu is one the first recognized Bayani’s of the Philippines, and he stands today as one of the leaders in Asia who stood up to colonizers and emerged victorious.

Written by Margarita Mansalay

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