MACTAN Island, one kilometer southeast of the island province of Cebu, is a famous rest and recreation destination in the Visayas. It is host to some of the country’s world-class, pricey hotels and resorts. At its northern tip is also a popular dive spot, Punta Engaño.
This piece of paradise is home as well to coastal dwellers of Sitio Mangal who have been living off the bounty of the sea as far as they can remember. But the recent entry of a real-estate project converting 13.4 hectares of beach lots into a tropical resort-themed 10-story condotel with recreational and water sports facilities has displaced them from their homes by the sea. Already twice demolished, the Sitio Mangal residents have been settling in makeshift shanties along the beach road for a year now.
They are told they can no longer fish in the area. Their access to drinking water is scarce. No help has yet come from local officials regarding their request for a permanent relocation site.
The video shows how change — if it has not yet turned for the worse — has been scant in Sitio Mangal in Mactan, whose capital Lapu-Lapu City, named after the Visayan chieftain who valiantly fought and defeated the Spanish colonizers led by Portuguese voyager Ferdinand Magellan, is a first-class and highly urbanized city in Cebu.
In this issue:
- Same old, same old
- Popular expectations and political ‘miracles’
- Isabela’s non-dynasty detour
- Podcast: Public health and politics in Isabela
- A bank and a backward town
- Reforms, relatives, and Bulacan’s governor
- Despite e-governance, transparency eludes Bulacan
- There’s something about Josie
- People power thrives in Naga City
- Podcast: Mixing politics and good governance
- War and peace in a Bohol barangay
- Photo gallery: Looking for a way out
- An old man revs up his town
- Photo gallery: Rosario, Batangas
- Banished from ‘paradise’