PRESIDENT Arroyo reenacted yesterday the signing of the law that created the lone congressional district of Lapu-Lapu City, during a brief stop in Mactan.

As that developed, 24 of 27 Mandaue City barangay captains and two city councilors reiterated their request to President Arroyo and Congress to make their city a lone congressional district as well.

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Rep. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz, who drafted the bill that created Cebu Province’s seventh district, said the development will also benefit Mandaue City and the towns of Cordova and Consolacion.

While Lapu-Lapu will get P70 million in its district representative’s Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel, Mandaue, Cordova and Consolacion will split a similar amount. The latter are what’s left of the sixth district.

It took about 15 minutes for President Arroyo to reenact the signing of the law, Republic Act 9726, at the MIP Lounge of Mactan Cebu International Airport.

The presidential party arrived about two hours late from Bohol, where the Cabinet met.

After the reenactment, the President posed for pictures with Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, Lapu-Lapu City officials led by Mayor Arturo Radaza and the Lapu-Lapu City barangay captains.

According to RA 9726, Soon-Ruiz will continue to represent Lapu-Lapu City until its representative is elected.

Soon-Ruiz questioned Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes for criticizing the creation of the lone district of Lapu-Lapu.

She said that because she managed the P70 million a year properly, the people of the sixth district benefited from projects, the Mandaue City Government’s P800-million annual budget can hardly be felt by the people.

In July last year, 25 officials signed the manifesto to create a congressional district in Mandaue City and sent it to Malacañang.

In their manifesto, community leaders said that Ruiz betrayed her constituents to advance her political ambition.

They said Mandaue City qualifies for its own district, given its area and population.

But Ruiz, through her chief of staff Atty. Gonzalo Malig-on, earlier explained that making Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu two separate lone districts will leave two towns, Cordova and Consolacion, with not enough people to form their own district.

Last September 2009, the Senate approved Senate Bill 5007, the Upper Chamber’s counterpart to the Ruiz bill.

The long process of creating a lone district did not discourage community leaders in Mandaue from pushing their recommendation to create the city’s own congressional district. (EOB/OCP)