WHAT’S in a name? “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” wrote William Shakespeare in the play “Romeo and Juliet.” Did the process of renaming the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) to the Lapu-Lapu Cebu International Airport hit a snag? A survey by this paper indicates that most Cebuanos want to retain the name MCIA for the airport.
President Duterte, during the inauguration of the new airport terminal, suggested the renaming of the airport in honor of Lapu-Lapu, the hero who repelled Portuguese conquistador Ferdinand Magellan in the clash that is now being reenacted every April as the “Battle of Mactan.”
Rep. Raul del Mar thus filed House Bill (HB) 8170 in the House of Representatives to amend RA 6958, which created the Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA), to rename the airport to the Lapu-Lapu Cebu International Airport (LCIA). If I may suggest, Congressman del Mar should include the title “Datu” there.
As for the MCIAA, I don’t think there is a need to rename it the Lapu-Lapu Cebu International Airport Authority (LCIAA) because renaming the airport should not affect the authority’s name.
According to the SunStar report, 383 of the 894 surveyed want the MCIA name retained. The reasons were not mentioned, but are we to understand that those who do not want the airport’s name changed don’t have a sense of history?
Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza said the move was based on the feedback from the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, which wants Datu Lapu-Lapu honored. It is not meant to honor the city. The airport is located in Lapu-Lapu City.
So to prevent confusion, it would be good to put “Datu” before Lapu-Lapu, thus the airport’s new name should be Datu Lapu-Lapu Cebu International Airport.
If my memory serves me right, then Lapu-Lapu City councilor Efren Herrera sponsored a resolution to put a dash in “Lapu-Lapu.” In the airport’s new name, “Lapu-Lapu” should be reverted to its original spelling, meaning without the dash, so the new airport’s name would not refer to the city.
Meanwhile, whatever the sentiments of the people are is already water under the bridge because, as reported by this paper, the House Committee on Transportation already approved HB 8170. But I believe there is still time to add “Datu” to LCIA as proposed by our good friend Congressman del Mar.
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Critics of Cebu Gov. Junjun Davide already accused him of electioneering even before the police could get the patrol cars that the Province of Cebu is planning to distribute to the different municipalities and cities in the province. Davide is running for vice governor while Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale is running for governor in the 2019 elections.
The 23 patrol cars from Mahindra are set to be distributed to the 20 police stations plus the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO). Questions were raised on the vehicles’ serviceability because many Mahindra patrol cars distributed by the previous administration are no longer serviceable. But Davide assured that Mahindra has a service center in Cebu City.