Lapulapu should be spelled without hyphen, National Quincentennial Committee reiterates

To prevent confusion and to properly honor the historical figure, the National Quincentennial Committee (NQC) has again stated that the Mactan ruler’s name must be written without the hyphen.

“With the consent of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), the NQC will use ‘Lapulapu’ as the name of the Mactan leader,” it stated in a comprehensive plan submitted to President Rodrigo Duterte in 2019, according to an NQC release on Tuesday.

NQC mentioned that the name of the leader written on Antonio Pigafetta’s chronicle of the Magellan-Elcano expedition was Çilapulapu.

According to NQC, the “Çi” in the hero’s name is “most likely the ancient honorific title “Si.”

The agency cited scholars in saying that “Çi” was an indigenized form of the Hindu title “Sri,” which refers to a nobleman. It also said other historical figures including Lakan Dula, Sicatuna of Bohol, and Rajah Siaui also used this prefix as shown in various works done in the early colonial period.

NQC said it had been consistent in using “Lapulapu,” using the 1951 historical marker at the Liberty Shrine in Lapu-Lapu City as reference.

The agency said it had to clarify the name because he would be “the central figure of the quincentennial.” 

The 500th anniversary of the victory in Mactan, the start of Christianity in the Philippines, and other milestones are collectively known as the 2021 quincentennial commemorations.

The clarification would also standardize the spelling for the proposed renaming of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport.

Amid the clarification, however, the NQC said it would respect how Lapulapu’s name was written and used in the past. 

“What the NQC and the NHCP would like is for the Filipino people to first and foremost, stick to what is written in the historical documents,” said the statement. – Franchesca Viernes/RC, GMA News