King Tupas of Cebu
Father Gaspar de San Agustin, in his “Conquista temporal y spiritual de las Islas Filipinas” (Temporal and Spiritual Conquest of the Philippine Islands) narrates of the events of the arrival of Gen. Miguel Lopez de Legaspi in Cebu. He said of Haring Tupas the Last Malay King of Cebu:
“On April 28, 1565, feast day of the glorious martyr San Vidal, Legaspi took Cebu by force while about two thousand men of Tupas, chieftain of Cebu and son of Hamabar, who was king when Magellan arrived in Cebu on April 7, 1521, were poised to stop him, on the 27th of the same month and year, Magallanes was killed in Mactan fighting for the cause of Hamabar.”
Hamabar is the other name of Humabon, king of Cebu. A statue is erected in his honor in Cebu City in park fronting the Metropolitan Cathedral Museum. Gaspar continued in his report: “King Tupas was baptized on the third Sunday of Lent, March 21, at the age of 60, and received the name of Don Felipe, with Legaspi standing as godfather; later, his son, 25 years old, was baptized and given the name Carlos, with Juan de Salcedo as his godfather; on the same, many important personalities were baptized.”
In the footnote of the book “A Brief Survey of What Was and What is the Diocese of Cebu in the Philippine Islands” written by Fr. Felipe Redondo in 1887 describes these Spanish personalities: “Felipe de Salcedo and Juan de Salcedo were the grandsons of Legaspi, sons of Pedro de Salcedo and Dona Teresa de Legaspi; Don Felipe de Salcedo was the eldest son of this couple and he was 16 years old in 1564 when he left Mexico for these Islands with his grandfather, General Miguel Lopez de Legaspi- this is contained in page 63 of the book of Fr. Gaspar.-Juan de Salcedo who has been mentioned in the ‘Brief Survey Book” of Fr. Redondo, came with his brother, who had gone to Mexico in the patache ‘San Lucas’, and arrived in Cebu while Legaspi was waiting for the Portuguese fleet.”
Gaspar mentions Legaspi left Cebu and went to Panay, then later to Manila. It should be noted that Redondo’s book was written 317 years after the Battle of Fort San Pedro where Tupas with his 500 pintados or painted warriors attacked the fort, resulting in the transfer of the seat of government from Cebu to Manila.
Cebu honors Tupas with a street in the San Nicolas District then known as the “Kingdom of Banawa”, site of the San Nicolas Church, the original home of the Image of Señor Sto. Nino. Here Legaspi and his men found the image after it was burned, he returned the religious icon to Tupas to appease the anger of the Cebuanos.
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