Lapu-Lapu's battle against a Chinese pirate
Years before the Battle of Mactan (April 27, 1521) Lapu-Lapu defeated the attack of a Chinese pirate on the island of Mactan. According to the book "Glimpses in History of Early Cebu" by Lina Quimat, the first Filipino hero was born sometime in 1484 in Mat-an (now known as Mactan), Sugbu, the elder of two boys, sons of Hari Mangal and Rani or Hara Bauga. Lapu-Lapu was the elder brother, his younger brother was named Malingin.
Lapu-Lapu was a squire to the knights of Hari Mangal named Bali-alho, Sagpu-baha, and Bugto-pasan (an earlier chronicler, Manuel Enriquez dela Calzada also narrated the story of Bali-alho). They were experts in arnis also called eskrima. Everyday these knights trained the young Lapu-Lapu.
Then in 1496, a Chinese pirate by the name of Chiong Li launched the first attack but was totally repulsed by the young Lapu-Lapu. A small band of Chinese bandits went to Sugbu in the balangay of Opong which was located in the island of Mat-an. The pirates made a mistake because they landed on the shores where Lapu-Lapu, who was only 12 year old, had his daily training exercise in eskrima with the knights. Instead of running home to tell his father, Lapu-Lapu and his instructors fought and all the bandits were killed. Since then the Chinese bandits never sent anyone to Sugbu.
Years later (1574), a bigger group of Chinese bandits led by Limahong came to Luzon attacked its inhabitants and then settled there. Though Limahong failed twice in defeating the Spaniards in Manila, his group was able to shortly establish a kingdom outside of Manila and then slowly assimilated into the residents and this consequently led to the birth of Chinese communities in Metro Manila.
Humabon (originally his name was Rajah Humab-on meaning "fond of ambush") was the nephew of Hari Mangal. Humabon had a son named Garra, who in turn succeeded Humabon and had two sons by the name of Tupas and Maguio, called Simaguio by Legaspi.
Another character during the lifetime of Lapu-Lapu was Zola, a minor chieftain at the other tip of Mat-an. Zola aimed to be recognized as the leader of the whole of Mat-an after Hari Mangal died. There was a lady by the name of Bulacna, whom Zola wanted to pursue. She was the daughter of the chieftain of Olanggoh, whose name was Cusgan. Bulacna eventually became the wife of Lapu-Lapu.
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