Village chiefs push for lone district status for Mandaue

CEBU, Philippines - Most barangay captains in Mandaue City would like to see their city transformed into a lone congressional district.

The League of Barangay Captains in Mandaue City headed by Opao barangays captain Jovita Tuela Ouano approved a resolution during a regular session requesting the Sangguniang Panlungsod of Mandaue City through Vice Mayor Glenn O. Bercede to adopt a resolution that would request Congress to convert Mandaue into a lone congressional district.

When members of the League of Barangay captains met last week for their general membership meeting, a resolution was approved which cited that per record of the National Statistics Office (NSO), an estimated 3.85 million people are living in Cebu province.

The resolution said that the population of Mandaue City is approximately 340,925.

The city of Mandaue was declared as one of the highly-urbanized cities in Cebu province on 1991. Thus, the other two highly-urbanized cities are Lapu-Lapu and Cebu.

"Having an enormous population in Mandaue City, it is just very right and fit to make the City of Mandaue a lone District," the resolution said.

Furthermore, the barangay captains said creating Mandaue City as a lone district will likewise address the needs of the residents and will be given appropriate funds for its implementation of projects and programs from the national government.

Earlier, Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes said that converting Mandaue into a lone congressional district will improve the economic development of the city as it will receive a bigger allocation from the Priority Development Assistance Fund. (THE FREEMAN)