Mactan Shrine

In Mactan, there is the statue of a Filipino who lived in 1521 and was named Lapu Lapu. He is celebrated by many Filipinos as a National Hero, and called The Hero who repelled the first foreign invaders. Against what? Spanish Colonization, the Philippines at that time was not a nation. It was an archipelago of warring tribes without even a common language. Many Filipinos are perplexed at the reasoning behind Lapu Lapu being called a hero and bewildered at the concept of an invasion.

However during the First Regular Season of the 14th Congress of the Philippines, Senator Richard Gordon introduced a bill proposing to declare April 27 as an official Philippine national holiday to be known as Adlaw ni Lapu-Lapu, (Cebuano), “The Day of Lapu-Lapu”