Thursday, July 26, 2007 Sitoy prefers Cebu City to Lapu-Lapu
CORDOVA town Mayor Adelino Sitoy said there will be serious implications if Lapu-Lapu City and Cordova are made into the province’s 7th legislative district.
Sitoy said the proposal for Cebu City to annex Cordova is more feasible even if the town is closer to Lapu-Lapu (see illustration).
If Cordova becomes part of Rep. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz’s proposed seventh district, then only the residents of the town will elect the district’s Provincial Board (PB) members are, Sitoy said.
Under the Local Government Code, City Administrator Teodulo Ybañez said, Lapu-Lapu City is already independent from the Province and its residents will no longer vote for PB members.
Sitoy said that if Cordova becomes part of Lapu-Lapu City, the town will lose its identity. But if they are annexed by Cebu City, they can still keep their identity because they will be considered as a district.
Sitoy said that when Lapu-Lapu City was declared a highly urbanized city that is independent from Cebu Province’s control, it automatically severed Cordova from the province’s sixth District. This, Sitoy said, is because the town is no longer contiguous with Mandaue City and Consolacion town, the other government units in the district.
But Department of Interior and Local Government 7 legal chief Danilo Almendras finds nothing wrong with the setup. He said the highly urbanized Mandaue City stands in between Consolacion and the other sixth district areas of Lapu-Lapu City and Cordova.
Sitoy, meanwhile, described Ruiz’s proposal for a seventh district as “way pagtuon” or done without a study. He said this will add to the confusion because the larger part of the proposed district will not vote for provincial officials while the smaller part will vote for two Provincial Board members of the new district.
That, Sitoy said, is untenable.
Sitoy said that since the town has no choice but to allow themselves to become part of a city, they’d rather go with Cebu City, which invited them, rather than Lapu-Lapu City, which seems uninterested.
Sitoy said Cordova will be part of Cebu City’s Cordova-Cebu Central District, which will have 10 councilors to represent residents.
Almendras said a town and city can merge through an act of Congress. The two local government units may amend their respective charter to allow the merger.
DILG 7 Director Pedro Noval earlier said annexing Cordova to Cebu city is unlawful because the two areas are separated by a body of water.
Sitoy said the situation is similar to Mandaue City and Cordova, where a body of water separates the two and yet they belong to the same district.
Gov. Gwendolyn Gar-cia, meanwhile, assured Sitoy that even if Lapu-lapu City is now a highly urbanized city, she will still continue to take care of Cordova like the way she is taking care of the other towns and cities under the Province.
“I assure Mayor Sitoy, hindi kita iiwanan. Pada-yonon ko sa pangpangga ang lungsod sa Cordova sama sa akong pagpangga sa mga lalawigan sa Sugbo,” Garcia said. (OCP with MBG)
