Lapu-Lapu council oks ordinance declaring city 'highly urbanized'

The Lapu-Lapu City council yesterday approved an ordinance asking President Gloria Arroyo to declare the city from an independent component city into a highly urbanized city.

Majority floorleader Alley Berdin said it is high time for the city be given such status since it has already qualified and attain the two legal requirements for such declaration.

The approval of the ordinance came after more than an hour of debate when councilor Eugene Espedido, in his privileged motion, asked to defer the matter first to the committee on law for further study.

Espedido contended that the council should know first the advantages and disadvantages if and when Lapu-Lapu will become a highly urbanized city.

"The future of Lapu-Lapu depends on this ordinance. It is not a guarantee that just because the city have complied with the requirements, this is already beneficial to the city. This must be fully studied and carefully deliberated," Espedido argued.

Councilor Damian Gomez, for his part, opposed the deferment considering the urgency of the matter since President Arroyo will be here today to grace the Kadaugan sa Mactan celebration and it is the opportune time to present to her the ordinance.

Gomez said Mayor Arturo Radaza intended to present the ordinance to the President today and announced it during the celebration.

Councilor Eduardo Cuizon, law committee chairman on law, also said there is no need to fefer the matter to his committee because the council members, including him, support its approval.

He said that, after 120 days from the declaration of the President, a plebiscite will be held in the city to determine whether the city residents approved the declaration.

Councilor Eugene Amores added that the approval of the ordinance was just part of the process of converting the city into a highly urbanized city.

Lapu-Lapu City is one of the three cities comprising Metro Cebu. It is composed of Mactan Island, Olango Island, Pangan-an, two Caubians and Caohagan. The "mainland" Lapu-Lapu City refers to the part of Mactan Island, and was originally referred to as "Mactan."

The former "Mactan" later became the town of Opon in 1730, the 7th town that the Agustinians founded in Cebu. Opon was the name of the place for centuries. It became a city on June 17, 1961 but was named Lapu-Lapu City after the native hero, Lapu-Lapu, the first Filipino to defy foreign aggression.

An independent component city, Lapu-Lapu City is composed of 30 barangays, 19 of which are located in mainland Mactan island, eight are in Olango Island, and three barangay islets of Caubian, Pangan-an, and Caohagan. - Mitchelle P. Calipayan, with Peachy Salas and Sheila Peñafort