Home 
PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is scheduled to drop by Lapu-Lapu City today to attend the ceremonial signing of a law that gave Lapu-Lapu City its own congressional district separate from the Cebu’s 6th district in which it used to belong.
Arroyo signed the actual bill creating the law – Republic Act 9726 – last month in Malacañang before she left for the 15th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Thailand.
Upon the request of Lapu-Lapu City officials, Arroyo agreed to “reenact” the signing around 1:30 p.m. at the Most Important Persons (MIP) Lounge of the Mactan Cebu International Airport in Lapu-Lapu City.
The lounge was built and utilized when Cebu hosted the 12th ASEAN Summit in 2007.
“The plan was either for us to go to Malacañang, or she comes here. The President’s schedule (for today) brings her here. Anyway, the MIP is considered an extension of Malacañang (Palace),” said Vice Mayor Mario Amores.
Expected to attend the singing are Mayor Arturo Radaza, members of the City Council, barangay leaders, some businessmen, and Rep. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz, the author of House Bill 5007 that proposed the creation of a district for Lapu-Lapu City.
Radaza, who is on his third term as mayor and is prohibited by law to seek the same position a fourth time, is being pushed to run for Lapu-Lapu City congressman, although he has made no official announcement.
Soon-Ruiz’s husband, Lito, was also cited as a possible contender for the city’s first congressional post. Some sectors were also pushing Lito to run for mayor, a position sought by Radaza’s wife, Paz.
Lapu-Lapu’s changing political landscape is also prompting independent candidates to run. Among those likely to run include businessman Efrain Pelaez for mayor and opposition Councilor Eugene Espedido for congressman.
Apart from the ceremonial signing in Lapu-Lapu, Arroyo is also scheduled to visit Cebu City to also reenact the signing of a bill that made the Cebu State College of Science and Technology (CSCST) into the Cebu Technological University (CTU).
With the new law, all campuses under CSCST (not the Cebu Institute of Technology as earlier said by Cebu City south district Rep. Antonio Cuenco) located in Cebu became part of CTU.
In the morning, Arroyo will be in Bohol to unveil the new P4.7-million Loboc Fish Landing and Multipurpose Docking Port in the town of Loboc, Bohol, around 9:30 a.m.
The new facility will serve as a loading and unloading area for marine products, as well as a docking area for other kinds of sea craft, according to Fayette Riñen of the Philippine Information Agency.
The President will then meet with Cabinet members in Bohol before flying to Cebu for the ceremonial signings before returning to Manila.
