Coat of arms of the Philippines surrounded by the country name above and date below.

The Coat of Arms of the Philippines features the eight-rayed sun of the Philippines with each ray representing the eight provinces (Batangas, Bulacan, Cavite, Manila, Laguna, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga and Tarlac) which were placed under martial law by Governor-General Ramón Blanco during the Philippine Revolution, and the three five-pointed stars representing the three primary geographic regions of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

On the field on the dexter side is the American bald eagle of the United States, and on the field on the sinister side is the lion rampant of the coat of arms of Castile and León, both representing the country's colonial past.

Head of Lapu-Lapu left, value above.

Lapu-Lapu (fl. 1521) was a ruler of Mactan in Visayas. Modern Filipino society regards him as the first Filipino hero because he was the first native to resist Spanish colonization. He is best known for the Battle of Mactan that happened at dawn on April 27, 1521, where he and his soldiers defeated Ferdinand Magellan. The battle ended up in the killing of Magellan and the end of his expedition and it delayed the Spanish occupation of the islands by over forty years until the expedition of Miguel López de Legazpi in 1564.

Besides being a rival of Rajah Humabon of Cebu, little is known about the life of Lapu-Lapu. The only existing documents about his life are those written by Antonio Pigafetta. His name, origins, religion, and fate are still a matter of controversy. Lapu-Lapu is also known under the names Çilapulapu, Si Lapulapu, Salip Pulaka, Cali Pulaco, and Lapulapu Dimantag.