The 500-day countdown to the 500th anniversary of the victory at Mactan and other related events is fast approaching and as early as now, Cebu City has already presented some of its tentative programs on the table. Lapulapu City, for one, has been rolling out the blueprints of its proposed plans to renovate the world-famous Mactan Shrine—the historical landmark which commemorates the epic Battle of Mactan that took place on April 27, 1521, between Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan and Kingdom of Mactan’s Chieftain Lapulapu.
In a press conference held last November 14 at the Mayor’s Office in the City Hall in Lapulapu City, National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) Chairman Rene Escalante sat down with Lapulapu City Mayor Junard Ahong Chan, City Council and the local media to discuss the upcoming quincentennial celebration which will highlight the Philippines and Cebu’s very own legendary aristocrat warrior Lapulapu, and the country’s precolonial history in the quincentennial celebration.
One of the major topics discussed was the proposed renovation of some parts of the shrine which includes the Lapulapu monument itself.
According to Escalante, there is an executive order from President Rodrigo Duterte which mandates the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) to spearhead the renovation of the shrine, with the aim to make the landmark more accessible and visible to the public. He disclosed that one of the plans for the renovation is to build a 105 million peso-worth museum of the sort that will house the Lapulapu monument. “What we are going to do is that we will build a museum and enshrine the statue of Lapulapu. First, we will determine the tricky elements in the park to have a better perspective on where exactly this structure would be built. This shrine will be designed in such a way that wherever you may be in the area, you can easily spot the statue,” said Escalante.
Contrary to some speculations claiming that the 20-meter bronze statue of Lapu-Lapu will be replaced “by a monument that will more accurately portray the Battle of Mactan”, Escalante denied such a claim, stating that the statue is not subjected for any changes except for minor restorations. “There is no plan whatsoever to replace the statue and it will stay as it is. It will for sure undergo restoration processes such as repainting to make it look more bronze-like and perhaps some artworks will be added on its base but other than that, there’s no major changes or replacements.”
The proposed museum will take inspiration from Western architectural designs but with Filipino touches. NQC in cooperation with NHCP will be sponsoring a design competition and they will invite architects and artists to participate. The winning design will then be commissioned to be the “final image” of the museum. Escalante further emphasized that this new structure will be elevated to resolve the problematic proportion of the statue which at the moment is not quite tall enough to be visible from all directions.
The expanded structure will accumulate 1/3 part of the inland area and 2/3 of it will be on the shoreline, in the same spot where the traditional nipa huts are currently situated. From the Megaworld (Mactan Newtown) perspective, roughly 37 meters away from Magellan obelisk to the flagpole and another 37 meters away from the flagpole to the beachfront, this will be the exact spot where the museum is expected to rise.
Prior to the construction of the museum, some areas of the park will be demolished particularly the souvenir shops and the original structure that houses the panoramic painting that depicts the Battle of Mactan and the site’s marble branding. According to Mayor Chan, the LGU will work on a strategic plan for the relocation of the affected establishments and find a suitable area to relocate them especially the souvenir shops.
However, some structures inside the park won’t be subjected to any renovation and will remain in their respective spots such as the Magellan obelisk and the flag pole. The panoramic painting and marble branding will be restored and will also be displayed in the museum together with some artifacts.
The execution of the said project is expected to take effect in early 2020 and once completed, it will be renamed as the LapuLapu Shrine, to give honor and further recognize Lapu-Lapu’s victory over the Portuguese invader Magellan.
Aside from the renovation of the Shrine, Escalante also discussed about the on-going dispute with regards to the hyphen in Lapu-Lapu. NQC clarified that as far as the comprehensive plan they have submitted to the President last January 29, 2019 is concerned—the NQC will use ‘Lapulapu’ without a hyphen as the name of Mactan Leader and this is with the consent of the NHCP. Likewise, Escalante further implied that the NHCP has been consistent in referring to the historical figure as Lapulapu.
Other related topics covered in the conference were the proposal that NQC have made to the Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to revive the 2000-peso bill with Lapulapu as its feature icon and the Spanish-produced animated film “Elcano and Magellan” of which its teaser and poster recently drew flak in the country, the movie being “Magellan-biased”. Escalante stated they will propose to make another film that will feature Lapulapu as the real protagonist and not the villain. Escalante disclosed that they are earmarking 20 million pesos worth of seed budget for this particular project.
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