Ahh, my Mandaue

The Mandaue City government under Mayor Jonas C. Cortes will be celebrating today the 75th anniversary of the Mandaue Presidencia, or City Hall, which was inaugurated on this date in 1937 when Sotero Cabahug, one of Mandaue’s most illustrious sons, was the provincial governor.

The reference to City Hall as Presidencia is probably because during Spanish times, the head of a town or municipality in Spanish colonies like the Philippines and Mexico was called a presidente municipal.

To be held jointly with the 75th anniversary celebration of the Presidencia is the launching of the coffee table book about Mandaue City called “Our Home, Our Pride, Our Future.” The book highlights the history, culture, and prominent families of the city.

It is good that Mayor Cortes has chosen to make a big splash out of the 75th anniversary of the Presidencia because the edifice is not only one of the most beautiful landmarks in the city but, more importantly, it is a shrine and testament to the place and its people.

I have long since moved to nearby Cebu City. But I am a true-blue Mandauehanon and will always be even if I no longer live there. And while I was born in a hospital in Cebu City, it was in Mandaue City that I grew up and matured.

The letter “S” that makes up the middle initial in my name stands for Suico, one of the biggest clans in Mandaue City. For whatever it is worth, as my generation now finds it difficult to touch base with its roots, my mother was the late Flora Suico of Wireless, in Subangdaku.

The Mandaue City that I grew up in during the 1960s is a far cry from what it is now. As a kid in Wireless, there were a lot of wide open spaces that provided children of my age all the adventures to last an entire lifetime.

I may have written about this sometime ago but please indulge me if I will be repeating some of them here. After all, one always gets sentimental talking about the old home, which for me will always be Mandaue City, if not physically, then at least in every beat of my heart.

The childhood adventures I experienced as a child were not only fun but made for great lessons that helped form character and shape values. Physical play, and the necessary injuries suffered along the way, gave us strength and endurance and made us wiser and more responsible.

The slingshot and “lantaka” or bamboo cannon wars we engaged with kids from nearby barangays eventually gave way to maturity and feeling responsible for our actions, such that the blood and injures that came with these wars made us shun violence as men in later life.

I could, of course, go on and on recounting the memorable episodes of my childhood and how they helped shape me to become what I am today. But that would not be appropriate. This piece is not about me but about Mandaue.

And so I urge all Mandauehanons, and those who might be curious about the place and the people, to instead join the celebration and see for themselves what it is like to be in the midst of one of the friendliest, hard-working, religious, respectful, and decent people in all of Cebu.

Better yet, you should buy the book because it provides a concise glimpse of what you may need to know if you want to know Mandaue City and the Mandauehanons. The book ought to capture the spirit of this wonderful place and people.

Or you can drop in on Mayor Jonas. This young and energetic man can give you an idea of what dynamism can do to transform a once sleepy place into a leading commercial and industrial center. Mayor Jonas should know what he can tell you. It is in his genes.

His father, the late former mayor Boy Cortes, was responsible for this city’s great leap forward. When I was maturing into a young man, Mayor Jonas was still a kid in shorts, fighting his own make-believe wars. But that is his own story to tell, in the Mandaue he now leads.