SENATORIAL candidate John Henry Osmeña clarified yesterday that the proposal to turn Mactan Island into a separate province was made without consulting gubernatorial candidate Antonio Yapha, vice gubernatorial bet Clavel Asas-Martinez and congressional candidate Gabriel Luis Quisumbing.
In a press statement, Osmeña said that whether the proposal pushes through or not still depends on the people and officials.
“I believe, however, that an independent province will accelerate development of the island. Capitol is now blocking a proposed project in the north bay. This aims to expand the land available for Mepza and allow more locators and greater investment,” Osmeña said in the press statement.
‘Imperial Kapitolyo’
Quisumbing also issued a separate press statement saying he supports any measure that will develop “neglected towns and component cities.”
“We Cebuanos love to complain about imperial Manila, and rightly so. But now, some parts of the province are complaining about an imperial Kapitolyo at the end of Fuente Osmeña,” he said.
At the campaign rally of Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Arturo Radaza last Saturday, Osmeña said Mactan qualifies to be a separate province and that he will work on this with Quisumbing, if elected.
He told the crowd then that Mactan and its islets have potential for tourism.
He also said Yapha and Martinez have agreed to support the conversion of Mactan into a province.
But in the press statement yesterday, Osmeña said the proposal was “made without prior consultation.”
Osmeña further stated that a separate province will hasten the titling of over half of the island’s alienable and disposable land.
“Leadership calls for vision. This is what separates a leader from a follower, the ability to look at the future,” he said.
For his part, Quisum-bing said he plans to create a freeport in Mactan.
“Mactan and the component islands of Olango can be developed fully as both a world-class tourism destination side by side with export processing and light manufacturing, provided there is determined political will that ensures the right environment for business,” Quisumbing said.
Rep. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz and former governor Vicente dela Serna, Quisumbing’s rivals for a seat in Congress, rejected the proposal to create Mactan into a separate province.
Ruiz, through her chief of staff Gonzalo Malig-on, said she is opposed to breaking up Cebu into smaller provinces.
Might be joking
Dela Serna, in a separate interview, said Osmeña might only be joking.
The idea of converting the 100-square-kilometer island into a province got mixed reactions from city officials.
“Actually, by being a highly urbanized city, Mactan can go one step higher,” said City Administrator Teodulo Ybañez in a phone interview with Sun.Star Cebu yesterday.
Acting Mayor Norma Patalinjug, however, said it’s not yet time for Mactan to become a province.
This June 15, a plebiscite will be held on whether to make Lapu-Lapu a highly urbanized city.
Vicente Abadesco of Visayan Forum, a local non-government organization, said Osmeña’s declaration is one thing; the approval is another thing.
“The declaration was done in a political rally, and you know how political rallies are,” Abadesco said.
Community leaders, however, oppose Osmeña’s idea.
“Dili ko uyon kay lisod nga kung ma-siparet ang Mactan (I don’t agree because it will be difficult if Mactan will be separated),” said Hadji Marlon Badio, a Muslim leader in Lapu-Lapu.
“Mag-mahal tanan pati buhis then mahagbong nga wala’y motabang kung kita maglisod (Prices will increase, including taxes, and nobody will help if we suffer), Badio added.
Conrado Degollacion, president of Humay-Humay Gun-ob Pakigdagit (HUGPA) Inc., an urban poor association in Lapu-Lapu, shares the sentiment.
“Nganong buk-on pa man? Tungod na sa ilang self-interest di sa katawhan. (Why should it be separated? It’s because of their self-interest, not the interest of the people),” he said.
But for the business sector, the issue deserves a closer look.
“It might be better to make Mactan a separate congressional unit first,” Efrain Pelaez Jr. of Mactan Island Chamber of Commerce and Industry said.
He said they will support initiatives to study or make Mactan a special administrative region with freeport or tourism estate status.
Pelaez, however, could not help but comment on the political undertone of the issue.
“Traditional politics has made a mess of Mactan,” he said. (AAG/ Camella Bianca G. Villares, UP Mass Comm intern)
