That Mactan clash

The Lapu-Lapu City Government held yesterday the 497th celebration of the defeat of the Spanish expeditionary forces led by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan by Mactan folk led by the chieftain Lapulapu in 1521. Even if the encounter can’t be considered a major clash, the likes of the celebrated World War 1 and World War II battles, it landed in history books because it involved a global figure in Magellan.

The clash wasn’t what made it an international event but rather the killing of Magellan. Which is what makes efforts to play it up for the present generation of Cebuanos and for a national and even global audience rather tricky. Magellan’s forces did not make an army; neither did the Mactan natives constitute one. And it doesn’t help any that we know very little of the hero in this real-life drama.

Churning an event out of the Mactan clash is not an old attempt but a relatively new one, done in the ‘70s after the success of Cebu City’s Sinulog Grand Parade. What was conceived was a reenactment of the minor clash, an activity that is not only difficult to mount but is also fraught with the danger of being reduced into a caricature of the real clash.

As for reenactments, Talisay City has been doing it for many years now during the celebration of the landing of American troops to flush out the Japanese forces that occupied Cebu during World War II. That activity never got off the ground, unlike the Sinulog. Which is an indictment not of the historic event but of the concept of the celebration.

The Mactan event happened in 1521, which means it would turn 500 in 2021, or only three years from now. Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña already talks about making Sinulog 2021 grander still. A minor battle can never compare with an event that changed the lives of Cebuanos and even Filipinos forever. But we ask the question nevertheless. Would the “Kadaugan sa Mactan” be up to the task at hand?

On April 27, 2021, the “Kadaugan” celebration will attract not only a national but possibly an international audience. This early, the Lapu-Lapu City Government needs to review the way the Mactan clash is celebrated, including the reenactment concept, and find ways to make it worthwhile in 2021.