Mandaue spends P1.3M for coffee table book

THE Mandaue City Government spent P1.3 million for a coffee table book, which will be launched tomorrow during the 75th anniversary of the Mandaue Presidencia or the City Hall building.

Titled “Our Home, Our Pride, Our Future”, the book features the city’s history, prominent families and industries, among others, said City Treasurer Regal Oliva.

Highlights of tomorrow’s celebration include the lighting of the Presidencia and a fashion show featuring Cebu’s top fashion designers and former Miss Mandaue winners.

The celebration will be capped with a fireworks display.

Parts of S.B. Cabahug, A. Soriano Ave., U.M. Seno., Gomez and P. Burgos will be closed tomorrow during the anniversary celebration, which will start at 7 p.m.

Oliva said the City will produce 1,000 copies of the coffee table book.

“There has not been a book written about Mandaue. There are only brochures and leaflets. It’s high time to launch a book detailing Mandaue’s past, present and future,” he said in a news conference yesterday.

‘Perfect gift’

The 200-page book, which will be sold at P3,000 each, will be available in bookstores next month. “This is a perfect gift for Mandaue’s guests,” Oliva said.

The book will also feature the Presidencia, which was inaugurated on Sept. 12, 1937 during the term of Sotero Cabahug as Cebu governor.

The Presidencia is a heritage site protected by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines.

“Although we have plans of renovating the building structurally, we have to maintain its look,” Oliva said.

The City plans to turn the Presidencia into a museum. Oliva said the City will build a Government Center where the City Hall will be transferred. One location being eyed for the center is the reclamation area in Barangay Labogon.

“Right now, tourists are brought to private homes because we don’t have a public museum,” Oliva said.

Free copy

On the coffee table book, Oliva said all public and private schools in the city will receive a free copy of the book.

Oliva said they already received 500 book orders, both local and abroad. They reserved some 200 books for the Mayor’s Office. The book will be given to official visitors.

Oliva said the book was conceptualized last November and was finished on the last week of August.

During the Taxpayer’s Night last Sept. 6, the City launched the Mandaue City Citizens Charter Handbook, which will be distributed for free to every household and businesses.