RPS Lapu-Lapu (presidential yacht of Garcia)

The RPS Lapu-Lapu (RPS stands for Republic of the Philippines Ship) is today known as the BRP Ang Pangulo (BRP stands for Barko ng Republika ng Pilipinas). It was obtained during the administration of Carlos Polistico Garcia as part of the war reparations given to the Philippines by Japan. It was built at the Ishikawajima dry docks in Tokyo, and was known then as Bow No. 77.

The Official Gazette narrates the birth of RPS Lapu-Lapu: "On July 16, 1958, its keel was laid at the Harume Yard, and the ship was launched on October 16 of the same year. Under the command of Lieutenant Commander Manuel Mandapat, its first commanding officer, sea trials were conducted on February 9 and 10, 1959. President Carlos P. Garcia designated it as the Flagship of the Philippine Navy on February 14, 1959 and brought it to the Philippines on February 28, 1959. It was first named the RPS Lapu-Lapu on March 7, 1959. It saw its first presidential engagement on April 7, 1959 and was sent on its first mission on April 19, 1959. It successfully completed trade and cultural exposition at the ports of Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan on June 4, 1959. Since then, the ship was mainly used for relief, emergency search and rescue, patrol auxiliary transport, and command-vessel purposes, above its duties to the president and his government.

"President Macapagal, on December 31, 1961, removed it as the flagship of the Philippine Navy. On October 9, 1962, the ship was renamed RPS Roxas, the first ship to be named in honor of a Philippine president. In trying to stay to his platform of simplicity, President Macapagal never sailed on the ship and used a different ship for his sea-bound missions.

"The ship was again renamed during the Marcos administration as RPS The President. … On January 11, 1967, President Marcos again renamed the ship, now christening it as the BRP Ang Pangulo. The Marcos administration also created a seal for the presidential yacht."

President Garcia named the ship after the hero of the Battle of Mactan the country's first and only celebrated victory against a foreign invader, Fernando Magallanes, more known as Ferdinand Magellan. The Boholano president married a beautiful lass from Opon, Cebu, by the name of Leonila Dimataga whose brother, Mariano was the last municipal mayor and first city mayor of Opon renamed as Lapu-Lapu City by virtue of Republic Act 3134 enacted on June 17, 1961. The inauguration of the city was on December 31, 1961.

Garcia of the Nacionalista Party lost his reelection bid to Diosdado Macapagal of the Liberal Party, the incumbent vice president. The election was held on November 14, 1961. The vice president of Garcia (Senator Gil Puyat) lost to Emmanuel Pelaez (placing second was the Cebuano senator, mayor, and governor, Serging Osmeña Jr. who ran as an independent). Garcia was the vice president of Ramon Magsaysay who died in a plane crash in Balamban, Cebu on March 17, 1957. Garcia won the presidency on his own in the election months after his succession as president (it was held on November 12, 1957, he defeated Jose Yulo of the Liberal Party).