RESIDENTS expect more and faster projects now that Lapu-Lapu City has its own congressional district, a move that gained positive feedback from most Oponganons.
Republic Act 9726, proposed by Rep. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz (Cebu, 6th district) signed into law by President Arroyo this week, lumps Consolacion, Cordova and Mandaue City as the sixth district and creates the new lone district of Lapu-Lapu City.
Resident Edna Martinez told Sun.Star Cebu she hopes the development will mean more attention would be paid to the city’s problems.
“Mas maayo nuon na na nabulag na ta sa Mandaue. Kon unsa ang mga problema diri mas dali ra maatiman (It is better that we have been separated from Mandaue. Our problems here can now be easily paid attention to),” she said.
In random interviews, most residents expect more projects that will be completed fast, like roads and other infrastructure.
Lapu-Lapu, with a population of almost 300,000, will have at least P70 million as its annual Priority Development Assistance Fund through its district representative.
“Kon naa na’y mga project and gobyerno, dali na na mahuman kay mas daghan na man sila kwarta (Government can finish projects more quickly since there will now be more money),” said another resident.
Health
One common priority the residents brought up was the need for hospitalization assistance and medicine, especially for the uninsured poor.
Amid the positive feedback, however, a number of residents interviewed in Lapu-Lapu City did not know yet about the approved law. “Nabulag na diay ta sa Mandaue? (We are separated now from Mandaue)?” was one such reaction.
Residents will be electing their first district representative in 2010, coinciding with the end of Congresswoman Soon-Ruiz’s third consecutive term as sixth district representative.
With 131 votes, no opposition and no abstentions, the House of Representatives passed the Soon-Ruiz bill on third reading on Oct. 2, 2008, less than two months after the congresswoman filed it.
In an earlier version filed in 2007, the congresswoman proposed splitting the sixth district into two, the House website showed. In that proposal, Mandaue City and Consolacion would form the sixth district and Lapu-Lapu would combine with Cordova for the new seventh district.
The approved version, however, creates a lone congressional district for Lapu-Lapu City.
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on October 25, 2009.
