Del Mar files bill renaming MCIAA

It may have been almost 500 years since the valiant Datu LapuLapu in Cebu fought against foreign subjugation, but his legacy lives on.

Rep. Raul del Mar (Cebu City, north district) on Monday filed House Bill 8170 to amend Republic Act 6958, which created the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) in 1990.

HB 8170 proposes to change the word “Mactan” in MCIAA to Lapu-Lapu, and to repeal correspondingly the name of the airport from Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) to LapuLapu Cebu International Airport.

Del Mar said honoring LapuLapu and being consistent with the city’s name where the airport is located will serve two purposes.

First, it will give the native chieftain the recognition he deserves as the first recorded Filipino hero. Second, it also aims to improve the choice of names of the authority overseeing the airport and the facility itself.

Even before a bill on the matter was drafted, the move to rename the airport and its administering authority had been supported by several Cebu officials and President Rodrigo Duterte himself.

Last week, the President said that the MCIA should be called Lapu-Lapu International Airport, taking the cue from the National Historical Commission of the Philippines.

Del Mar, though, believes that keeping “Cebu” in the name of the airport and the authority that manages it would be “prudent and beneficial.”

“‘Cebu is better known in the world historically, economically and culturally. For branding and marketing, and as a locator of the airport as destination for tourists and other visitors, ‘Cebu’ serves a crucial function,” he said.