Thursday, August 31, 2006
How Bry. Bakilid became part of Mandaue
By Rose O. Verzosa
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
Not many people know that when Mandaue was converted from a municipality into city in 1969, it only had 26 barangays, not 27 as it now has.
Under Republic Act 5519, also known as the Mandaue City Charter, Mandaue is comprised only of Barangays Alang-Alang, Banilad, Basak, Cabancalan, Cambaro, Canduman, Casili, Casuntingan, Centro, Cubacub, Guizo, Ibabao, Jagobiao, Labogon, Looc, Maguikay, Mantuyong, Opao, Pagsabungan, Pakna-an, Subangdaku, Tabok, Tawason, Tingub, Tipolo and Umapad.
It did not include Bakilid, which, according to Barangay Captain Elmo Orlanes, was then a sitio of Maguikay.
Orlanes said Sitio Bakilid became a barangay only in 1972 through an ordinance enacted by the City Council and approved by then mayor Demetrio Cortes Jr.
Lobby
He said residents had lobbied for Bakilid’s conversion into a barangay because of its increasing population. The presence of Pan Oriental Match, which provided employment opportunities, caused the population increase, he added.
Orlanes, who was still a private citizen then, said sitio leader Corazon Ruelan pushed the move for Bakilid’s barangayhood, with the strong support of Emilio Pascual, also a Mandauehanon, who happened to be a good friend of the mayor then.
The sitio, together with portions of land taken from Barangays Maguikay, Tipolo, Banilad and Guizo, eventually became a barangay in 1972, bringing the total number of barangays in Mandaue to 27. Ruelan became Bakilid’s first barangay captain.
Celebration
Yesterday, Mandaue City celebrated its 37th Charter Day anniversary with a mass and a motorcade in the morning and a fellowship dinner with local businessmen at the City Hall grounds.
Although the City’s charter was approved by then president Ferdinand Marcos on June 21, 1969, the president signed Proclamation 586 over a month later designating Aug. 30 as the date for the formal organization of the government of the City of Mandaue.
Since then, the City had been celebrating its Charter Day every Aug. 30.
There had been previous attempts to change the date of the Charter day to June 21 but this was strongly opposed by the family of the late mayor Cortes.
It was Cortes, along with the late lawyer Amadeo “Matoy” Seno Sr., who strongly pushed for Mandaue’s cityhood.
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