Is Lapu-Lapu a Muslim?

Is Lapu-Lapu a Muslim?

So, is Lapu-Lapu a Muslim?

That's what most Balik-Islam would like you to believe and as "proof" they would even tell you the tale of the 10 Bornean Datus of Borneo.

Fast Fact: The 10 Datu story is a fiction. The story was found in the Maragtas Code, which sadly the so-called code was not an actual ancient code but something that a certain Pedro Monteclaro. wrtote in 1907.

So, that's a water cooler lowdown. The Filipinos were not a part of the Sultanate of Borneo. The Islamic Sultanate of Brunei extended its rule over parts of Mindanao only by the late 15th century.

The Pacific islanders... those people from Palau, Fiji, New Zealand, Samoa, Marianas and Hawaii were mostly descendants from navigators from the Philippine Island. They don't have any hint of Islamic culture.

There are also some other things we should consider. First, Lapu-Lapu was not a Muslim. Lapulapu is part of the Pintados Tribe, of the Visayan Thalassocracy. When we say Pintados, it means that members of this tribe are sporting tattoos; something that the Islamists disdain. The Cebuanos, and in extent, the people of Mactan were animists, and they worship Laon, or the Visayan High God, and other minor gods like Alunsina, Sidapa and others. Also, the Visayans were well noted for their common custom of penile piercings (tugbuk or sakra). These are considered taboo on Islamic belief.(See: http://www.islamweb.net/en/article/138057/tattoos-in-islam)

Antonio Pigafetta, an Italian Historian, who recorded Magellan's encounter with the Cebuanos, explicitly described the people of Panay as tattooed. He also said, "We set up the cross there for those people were heathen. Had they been Moros, we would have erected a column there as a token of greater hardness, for the Moros are much harder to convert than the heathen.

— Antonio Pigafetta, Primo viaggio intorno al mondo, c. 1525

Let us also recall that King Humabon and Queen Juana of Cebu gave Magellan a warm reception and embraced Christianity as well. They even accepted the Santo Nino given to Queen Juana.