- Mactan Island was a small thriving community with no unified government. and divided into villages called “balangays” namely: Mactan, Pusok, Pajo, Agus, Pajac, Maribago, Gun-ob, Basak, Magondong, Suba-Basbas, Kalawisan, Babag, Pilipog, Day-as, and Gabi. Each balangays was ruled by a chieftain.
- Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan and his men arrived in Cebu on April 17, 1521. Rajah Humabon, his wife and his subjects were converted to Catholic faith. As a result of Magellan’s influence with Rajah Humabon, an order had been issued to the nearby chiefs that each of them were to provide food supplies for the ships, and convert to Christianity. Datu Lapu-Lapu of Mactan defied the order. Rajah Humabon suggested Magellan to go to Mactan and punish Lapu-Lapu. It is widely believed that Humabon was at odds with Lapu-Lapu and that they fought over control of land.
- The Battle of Mactan. Lapu-lapu (or Datu Kolipulako) was not the over-all ruler of the entire Mactan Island. He established alliances with the various chieftains in the different balangays like Bali-Alho, Bugto Pasan, Sampong Baha, and Magtawnas. He was lucky to have gained their support for they had collectively fought Magellan who invaded Lapu-lapu’s Mactan (a balangay headed by him) on April 27, 1521. Lapu-lapu’s victory in his balangay was not his alone. It was the triumph of all the chiefs of all the balangays in the Island of Mactan who helped him. This event is celebrated every year to commemorate the first repulsion of the natives against the foreign invaders.
- When Miguel Lopez de Legazpi arrived in Cebu on April 27, 1565, he was not resisted by Lapu-lapu in Mactan who was no longer around. He was defied by King Dagami of Gabi (now part of Cordova) who conducted a guerilla warfare against him.
- It was not until Spain successfully dominated the entire Philippine Archipelago that Mactan Island finally obtained a unitary government with Opon as its seat in 1730. Since then, all the balangays in the Island were ruled by Spain through Opon.
- On May 22, 1863 when Governor-General Rafael Echague decreed that the balangays of Gabi, Day-as, and Pilipul (actually, Pilipog) would be joined into a separate town from Opon to be named Cordoba (the name given to the municipality of Cordova until 1913). This independence was only short-lived because it was annexed back to Opon during the American occupation in 1898. However, efforts to regain independence from Opon was again granted in January 01, 1913, changing the name Cordoba to Cordova.
- The town of Opon was later became a city in 1961. Politician Manuel A. Zosa, the representative of the Sixth District of Cebu, sponsored the bill converting the former municipality of Opon into the present day City of Lapu-Lapu which is the Republic Act 3134, known as the City Charter of Lapu-Lapu which and signed on June 17, 1961 by former Philippine President Carlos P. Garcia. It was named after the famous chieftain Lapu-Lapu who killed the famous navigator Fernando Magellan and repulsed the first European aggression in the Philippines.
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References:
www.lapulapucity.gov.ph
www.cordova.gov.ph
