A YEAR after it was filed, President Arroyo signed into law yesterday the bill creating the lone congressional district of Lapu-Lapu City.
Mayor Arturo Radaza has yet to decide if he will run to become the city’s first and Cebu’s ninth congressman, but two scions of political clans are reported to be eyeing the position.
“I join the rest of the Oponganons in celebrating yet another milestone in the city’s journey to progress,” said Radaza in a text message sent by his publicist.
Republic Act 9726 will give Lapu-Lapu “an opportunity to be heard in the national legislature,” he said. The change also means a smaller turf for the incoming representative of the sixth district, now composed only of Mandaue City, Consolacion and Cordova.
Businessman and mayoral aspirant Efrain Pelaez Jr. said he suspected “connivance” in the splitting of the district and that it was probably meant to accommodate some individual political interests. He was asked about the development in a press conference he called to announce his camp’s support for the Liberal Party’s presidential aspirant, Sen. Noynoy Aquino.
But lawyer Gonzalo Malig-on, chief of staff of Rep. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz, said the bill went through the right processes.
“How can Congresswoman Soon-Ruiz rig the approval of the bill when she, in fact, is not on good terms with Mayor (Arturo) Radaza?” said Malig-on in a phone interview.
City officials said the swift passage of the law shows the administration recognizes Lapu-Lapu’s role in supporting the national economy.
“Ripe na gyud ang Lapu-Lapu to become a lone district,” Vice Mayor Mario Amore, said.
Angel Rodriguez, among the opposition’s choices for the congressional contest, said Lapu-Lapu can make the most of the development if voters elect someone who will set “personal greed” aside in handling public funds.
“Definitely, having Lapu-Lapu as a lone district is a big boon for the island city. It will see congressional funds poured in to solve a very acute problem that the present administration failed to attend to, which is socialized housing,” Rodriguez said.
Mayor Radaza is still undecided, but his wife Paz, a mayoral contender for 2010, said the endorsement of 30 barangay captains, through an approved Association of Barangay Councils resolution, cannot just be ignored.
“Dili ko moingon nga dili siya modagan, pero dili sab maayong usikan ang confidence nga gihatag niya sa mga kapitan (I won’t say he’s running, but it’s also not wise to waste the confidence the captains have shown in him),” she said.
The new district could mean bad news, however, for some constituents in what’s left of the sixth district.
Cordova Mayor Adelino Sitoy said that because the Lapu-Lapu City Hospital belongs to the City, Cordovanons may not expect priority attention by the hospital staff.
Pelaez, for his part, said the newly launched Kalihokan sa Katawhan alang sa Kalambuan (KKK) is still selecting whom they will field against Radaza in the district’s first congressional election.
Pelaez also reiterated his intention to run for mayor.
He said the KKK decided to support Aquino and Roxas since they believe in the senators’ “ideals and integrity.”
Like their newly formed political group, Pelaez, who is also the Mactan Island Chamber of Commerce and Industry president, said they both seek “real change for good governance.”
He cited the need to address graft and corruption, uncollected garbage and alleged overpricing in government-initiated procurements and projects.
“We cannot take it (corruption in Lapu-Lapu City) anymore. We have to stand up and fight this. We want a politics of change,” said Pelaez.
Admitting they do not have the support of most of the barangays in Lapu-Lapu City, Pelaez said what matters is that taxpayers are “listening” to them.
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on October 24, 2009.
