LAPU-LAPU City Mayor Junard Chan has asked for coordination from the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) amid his bid for a seat in the MCIAA board.
In an interview with SunStar Cebu on Tuesday June 6, 2023, Chan reiterated that the City should have a say in all the improvements, developments, and security happening within the city for its betterment.
"Daghan nu ang atung plano, gusto ra namo ang City masayud sad og unsa ila gusto ug kami sad nila kung unsa amu plano. Ang airport since naa man sa sud sa area sa Lapu-Lapu," said Chan.
(We have many plans, so we just want the City to know what they want and for us to know what their plans are as well, as the airport is located in Lapu-Lapu.)
On February 2, 2023, Chan expressed his intent to sit as one of the MCIAA's board members, but he was not able to sit as the law needs to be amended.
On May 2023, House Bill 7798, which amends Section 6 of Republic Act 6958, otherwise known as the “Charter of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority,” was approved on third and final reading at the House of Representatives. It needs to pass through Senate, though.
The bill was authored by Lapu-Lapu City Lone District Representative Ma. Cynthia “Cindi” King-Chan and aims to increase the number of members of the board of directors (BOD) of the MCIAA.
Lapu-Lapu City has been seeking a seat in the MCIAA since it became a highly urbanized city and since it was freed from Cebu Province’s administrative supervision in 2007.
The Congress created the MCIAA on July 31, 1990, under Republic Act 6958 to “undertake the economical, efficient and effective control, management and supervision of the Mactan International Airport in the Province of Cebu.”
Meanwhile, 19-year-old Carl Vincent Kho from Barangay Basak, Lapu-Lapu City proposed to Chan a mobile web application that aims to help airline passengers navigate inside the Mactan-Cebu International Airport.
Kho is a student of Minerva University in San Francisco. He met Chan on June 5.
"You just download the app, and the app will guide passengers to their flight gate every step of the way," Kho said.
"Makaayo ni sa atong mga pasahero because our airport is the gateway to the Visayas," said Chan.
Kho graduated high school from the Science and Technology Education Center in Baranggay Basak, Lapu-Lapu City. (HIC)