MAGELLAN’s MARKER

MAGELLAN’s MARKER

Location: Punta Engaño Lapulapu City
About 20 kms. From Cebu City. Encouraged by the success of Christianizing the people of Cebu, Magellan crossed the channel to Mactan Island in an effort to spread the faith. Before he reached the shores, he was killed by the chieftain of the island, Lapulapu and his men during the battle for supremacy and freedom on April 27, 1521. Efforts to retrieve the body of Magellan were futile inspite of the offer to trade jewelries and spices for the dead body. This marker was erected in 1866 to mark the spot where the great explorer died.
One of the oldest monuments in the province, the Magellan monument in Barangay Mactan (Lapu-Lapu City) traces its origin to December 4, 1840, when Spanish Governor-General Francisco Alcala approved the plan to construct a monument in Punta Engaño, Mactan, in honor of Ferdinand Magellan, the Portuguese “discoverer” of the Philippines.

The actual circumstances of its construction, however, are not quite clear. It appears that as of 1858, a Magellan monument had already been erected but this may not be the same monument that exists today. Karl von Scherzer, who visited the Philippines in 1858 as a member of an Austrian naval expedition, wrote that on Mactan island “there was also erected on the promontory of Sugaño (Punta Engaño) a monument to the memory of Magelhaens (Magellan), and the happy idea was entertained of making it also a lighthouse to warn ships of the danger in approaching the immense number of reefs that are found here. “Though it is not clear whether Scherzer himself saw the monument, it can be assumed that the original monument was a monument-cum-lighthouse in a promontory of Punta Engaño.
The monument that now exists in Barangay Mactan – a classic obelisk on a multi-level base – is said to have been built in 1866 during the administration of the Augustinian priest Simon Aguirre, who was cura of Opon (now Lapu-Lapu) in 1857-71.
It is an important landmark that, even today, has not been given the full care and respect it deserves