EDITORIAL - Bringing Lapu-Lapu back to being relevant

Responding to growing clamor, Cebu City North District Representative Raul del Mar has filed a bill at the House of Representatives seeking to rename the Mactan Cebu International Airport to Lapu-Lapu Cebu International Airport.

Del Mar’s proposed House Bill 8170 is in response to proposals renaming Mactan airport after the Cebuano chieftain to honor the first Filipino hero who led the first resistance against the Spanish colonizers.

The bill also seeks to amend the Republic Act No. 6958 or the "Charter of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority" to change the MCIAA to Lapu-Lapu-Cebu International Airport Authority (LLCIAA).

Earlier, the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) brought up the idea of renaming the country’s second largest airport after Lapu-Lapu to “immortalize and popularize” what he had done for the country.

Aside from Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza and her constituents, President Rodrigo Duterte himself supported the move, saying renaming the Mactan airport is a way to preserve the legacy of the great Visayan hero.

Renaming the Mactan airport after Datu Lapu-Lapu truly makes sense. For the millions of Cebuanos, there is no other figure worthy of having the right to being epitomized by their airport than their very own hero.

If the national government had taken little time to scrap the name of the country’s largest airport and change it to Ninoy Aquino International Airport to honor the late Senator Benigno Aquino Jr., it should as well take into consideration the growing clamor to rename Cebu’s airport after Lapu-Lapu.

Changing the name of the Mactan airport to Lapu-Lapu Cebu International Airport is not only a step giving honor to the great Cebuano.  It is also an opportunity to bring the Visayan hero back to being relevant among Filipinos in this modern age.