VICTORY OF MACTAN. Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Junard "Ahong" Chan (second from left) and National Quincentennial Committee Vice Chair Dr. Rene Escalante (third from left) present to the stakeholders the memorandum of agreement (MOA) formalizing the partnership in commemorating the 500th anniversary of the Victory of Mactan on April 27, 2021 and to rehabilitate the Liberty Shrine on Mactan Island. Also signing the MOA as witnesses were Lapu-Lapu City Tourism Officer Edward Mendez (left) and Alvin Alcid, deputy executive director of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines. (PNA photo by John Rey Saavedra)
LAPU-LAPU CITY, Cebu – The National Quincentennial Commission (NQC) and the city government here on Friday signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) to formalize their partnership in commemorating the 500th anniversary of the Victory of Mactan on April 27, 2021.
Dr. Rene Escalante, vice chair of NQC and chair of the National Historical Committee of the Philiippines, signed the MOA on behalf of the national government, and Mayor Junard “Ahong” Chan on behalf of the city during the stakeholders' meeting at the Bellavista Hotel here.
The NQC and the city government agreed to rehabilitate the Liberty Shrine, locally known as the Mactan Shrine or Lapu-Lapu Shrine, which will be the center of the celebration of the Philippine quincentennial.
Escalante remarked that commemorating the circumnavigation of the world by Ferdinand Magellan and completed by Sebastian Elcano will focus on the heroism of Datu Lapu-Lapu in the famous Battle of Mactan on April 27, 1521.
“We will focus our commemoration (of the Philippine quincentennial of the circumnavigation) the Filipino way. Pay less attention on Magellan, Pigafetta, Barbosa, or Valderama. Instead, we will focus on Lapu-Lapu,” Escalante told the historians, local government officials, museum curators, and cultural experts who attended the Visayas-leg of stakeholders’ meeting organized by the NQC after the MOA signing.
According to Escalante, the celebration will rekindle the minds of the Filipinos in recognizing the heroism of Lapu-Lapu in resisting the attempt to conquer the land.
“Lapu-Lapu is a less known hero. He is known here but not so much in other parts of the country,” he said, lamenting that such name has been associated with the more famous fish.
Chan, in his opening remarks, thanked President Rodrigo Duterte for issuing Executive Order No. 55, which puts this city in the limelight because of a series of big celebrations leading to the Philippine quincentennial commemoration.
“We are sharing with our fellow Filipino people the history we have here at Mactan. That history will never be appreciated by the nation if it will remain as a mere local event,” Chan pointed out.
Arturo Boncato Jr., undersecretary for tourism regulation, coordination and resource generation of the Department of Tourism, said in his presentation the three major events that will be celebrated on the Island of Mactan will be the 500-days countdown to 500 years of the Victory of Mactan, the one-year countdown and the 100-day countdown to April 27, 2021, the day Lapu-Lapu’s group fought Magellan some 500 years ago.
On Dec. 14, 2019 the countdown will start for the 500 days leading to the quincentennial on April 27, 2021.
Boncato said the main venue of the celebration will be the Liberty Shrine in this city, and the Agripina Circle in Manila and the Monument of Peace and Unity in Davao.
Boncato, who represents DOT to the NQC, said they also organized boot camps for music writers for the quincentennial theme song-writing contest, with eight of the songs to be included in an album that will be released in time with the celebration.
Assistant Secretary Ramon Cualoping III, of the office of the brand integration of the Presidential Communications Operations Office, presented to the stakeholders the communications plan for the celebration. (PNA)
