Lapulapu still makes news after 500 years

SOME speakers deliberately insert an outrageous comment or joke in their speech to check if the audience is still listening. But it is unlikely that this was the reason why Sen. Christopher Lawrence “Bong ”Go, in his prepared message on the quincentennial celebration of the Battle of Mactan, felt compelled to suggest that Lapulapu, like Ferdinand Magellan, was an outsider. The senator shared a “version” of the battle wherein the Tausug Lapulapu and his men were sent by the ruler of the so-called East Kingdom of Sulu to check on the arrival of foreigners in what is now known as the Visayas. Sen. Go quoted Abraham Ijirani, the secretary general (and spokesman) of the Sultanate of Sulu, as the source of this “version” of the Battle of Mactan.

The comments of Sen. Go — the country’s second most powerful person — made during the grand quincentennial commemorative event held in Lapu-Lapu City last April 27, shocked and surprised the Cebuano public. Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Junard Chan has remained silent even as last February he was quick to condemn rapper Ez Mil for song lyrics that the mayor saw as insulting to the memory of the great hero of Mactan.