Once you've triked from Panagsama Beach back to Moalboal, avoid tumbling onto the first Cebu bus you see, but rather wait for one of the air-conditioned ones, which pass every 30 minutes.


There are a heap of roadworks en route, and as you near Cebu, there is a lot of traffic. So it's not a quick journey (it took us about 3.25 hours).

But it's not uncomfortable. And it's not uninteresting. You get good views of Cebu island's central spine of forested mountains. And there's always something to observe on and beside the road: pig lorries, doubtless taking their cargo to an unhappy end; roadside chicken roasters, the spits revolving at a surprising rate of knots; the plethora of chicharon shops in Carcar; all manner of markets; the tricycle emblazoned with the slogan "Life is pain", making you wonder what had happened to the poor chap, and hope things might start to go better for him...



From South Cebu bus station, a Grab to our accommodation on Mactan Island took another 40 minutes.


We'd decided to stay on Mactan Island because it's where Cebu airport is (we have an early start on Friday), and because it's a bit different. It's busy, though. The traffic crawls, making Grab trips slow and expensive. We axed a couple of plans on that account.

What you can't omit, however, is a trip to the Lapu-Lapu statue.




Seeking a new route to India and the spice islands (by heading west instead of east), Magellan (a Portuguese mariner sailing under Spanish patronage) led an expedition that had experienced mutiny, shipwreck, starvation, and sickness by the time it reached what is now the Philippines.

"Magellan swiftly claimed the Philippines on Spain's behalf, but his involvement in what [Laurence] Bergreen calls an 'unnecessary war' was his undoing. 'He wasn't defeated by natural forces,' says Bergreen. Instead, he demanded that local Mactan people convert to Christianity and became embroiled in a rivalry between Humabon and Lapu-Lapu, two local chieftains."

It "was seeking his fortune and playing politics ... which brought Magellan to his end. Between Humabon whom Magellan had baptized and taken as ally, and Humabon's powerful rival Lapu-Lapu, Magellan overestimated his strength and his ability to overpower the one on behalf of the other."



Lapu-Lapu probably didn't personally see off Magellan, and of course it's somewhat anachronistic to see him as a "national hero" when the geographical entity of the Philippines did not exist at that point, and the idea of a united nation had not yet formed.

Nevertheless, the encounter marks the first bit of local resistance to the Spanish incursion, and Lapu-Lapu "is widely commemorated as a symbol of Filipino resistance and pride".

Nick Joaquin's 1979 piece is very thought-provoking on this subject:

"I maintain that Lapu-Lapu's uprising was more than a struggle against the West and the white man, though it was also that. But, more importantly, it was the struggle of Oceania against Asia, of the island against the continent, and of the tribe against the empire.

"And here we are confronted by paradox.

"As nationalists, we hail Lapu-Lapu as the First Filipino, although he was also the first to resist the idea of nation... He was, we have to say, not fighting for the Philippines; he was fighting for his native land of Mactan, or for a section of Mactan. Lapu-Lapu was a tribalist. And he rose to oppose an event that marked the beginning of the end of tribalism among us...

"Around mid-April of 1521, Magellan made an epochal move: he proclaimed the unification of all the kingdoms on Cebu island into a single state, with Rajah Humabon as head of state. That act was the first step towards our becoming a nation, towards our becoming the Philippines... For the first time we, who were divided into numerous tribes, were fused into a single entity...

"[I]t was the unification of Cebu and Mactan that Lapu-Lapu refused to accept."

To mark the 500th anniversary, in 2021, the authorities are reportedly going to replace the monument with something that more accurately portrays the Battle of Mactan. It's going to be difficult to replicate the appeal of this strong solitary figure, though.





The other thing that's really worth doing in Mactan is eating...

Remember how Cebu is the home of lechon? Well, we made the happy discovery that our new home-for-two-days is a stone's throw from a branch of Rico's Lechon.

The pork here is really good. As well as another pinakbet (because it was feeling like way too long since we'd had one of those), we ordered an eggplant salad (which apparently involves roasting and skinning an eggplant, squashing it, with its top still attached, and topping it with onions, tomatoes, and boiled egg). High yum factor all round.


Right next door is Chika-an sa Cebu. The veggie dishes were good, but the highlight was the beef pochero. This is a type of stew, with big chunks of melt-in-the-mouth meat, a tasty broth, pumpkin, sweetcorn, and various greens.


(And on a side note, Filipino soups have been a wonderful discovery on this trip. They're simple and refreshing, with clear, delicious broths. Recent days have brought us delicate fish tinola, and pork sinigang, where the tamarind-induced sourness of the broth contrasts really nicely with the richness of the pork. Philippines cuisine is so under-rated, in my opinion.)

So... Our fourth trip to the Philippines nears its end. Notwithstanding a few difficulties locating low-carb options and walking opportunities, the country has been very good to us once more. And I'm in the midst of a huge raft of interesting Philippines reading, so it will be with me in spirit for a while yet.