Home 
Lapu-Lapu City may have its own congressional district before the end of the year.
The Senate committees on local government and on amendments yesterday approved House Bill 5007 which seeks the creation of a lone congressional district for Lapu-Lapu.
“It's 99.9 percent sure that Lapu-Lapu City will elect its own congressman in the coming elections,” said Rep. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz of Cebu’s 6th district, the bill’s main sponsor.
With the approval in the committee level, she said she was confident the bill would have “smooth sailing” in the Senate plenary for second and third reading once Congress resumes session in July.
A bicameral conference would no longer be needed, she said, because the Senate adopted the House version of the bill which she authored.
From the Senate, an approved bill would be forwarded to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for signature.
If the President doesn’t sign within 30 days, the bill automatically becomes a law.
Soon-Ruiz explained that under the bill, it’s effectivity will be in the next election. So if this is signed by President Arroyo within the year, it can take effect in the May 2010 election.
The 6th district will then be composed of Mandaue City and the towns of Consolacion and Cordova.
Once Lapu-Lapu has its own congressional district, residents can vote for their own congressman and expect to see two additional seats in the City Council.
This early, Lapu-Lapu City officials are thinking of who will fill these slots.
Vice Mayor Mario Amores makes no secret of his interest to run for congressman if his party selects him.
“The (local) party will decide who will run. But I am available for it,” Amores told Cebu Daily News before taking a flight home to Cebu from Manila.
“We are very united in our group. Whoever is selected by the group will be the one to run.”
Amores was in Manila yesterday to testify before the joint Senate committee hearing presided by Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III on the pending bill.
In attendance were Senators Manuel Roxas III, Francis Escudero, Juan Miguel Zubiri, and Ramon Revilla Jr. They did not pose any objections.
Former senator John Henry “Sonny” Osmeña was also at the Senate hearing yesterday.
Osmeña had helped lobby with senators in the passage of the bill.
Osmeña used to support Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Arturo Radaza of the Alayon party but later withdrew support.
During yesterday’s hearing, Senator Roxas moved for the approval of the bill. It was carried unanimously.
“It was a unanimous approval and there was no objection”, said Soon-Ruiz.
Under the 1987 Constitution, she said all highly urbanized cities are entitled to their own congressional representative.
While Mandaue, also in the 6th district, is classified as highly urbanized, its Charter allows city residents to vote for Cebu provincial officials. The city also remains under the province.
But in the case of Lapu-Lapu City, it is independent of the province since it became a highly urbanized city after the 2007 elections.
“Due to the complexity that Lapu-Lapu voters could no longer vote for provincial elections while Cordova residents can, it was decided in the course of the deliberations to lump Cordova, Consolacion, and Mandaue City as one district,” Ruiz said in a press statement.
Brushing aside doubts her bill would not make it to the 2010 elections, Soon-Ruiz said she would leave it to Lapu-Lapu officials who they will choose for these positions.
She said she just wanted the passage of the bill to be her legacy before she steps down as 6th district representative in 2010.
Soon-Ruiz, who has served three consecutive terms, is eyeing Mandaue City and will challenge the reelection bid of Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes in the 2010 polls.
She said the bill did not aim to o accommodate any political plans. She assured that her husband Lito was not running in Lapu-Lapu City.
