The Beauty of Cordova

Profile


Cordova Municipality got its name after Cordova City in Spain. It first became a Municipio in 1864 but lost its town hood thereafter but was able to regain its municipal status in 1913. From 1913 up to the present, a total of 15 town mayors were able to run the Municipality, replacing one after the other.

It is a 4th-class municipality belonging to the 6th district of the Province of Cebu and is situated within Metro Cebu particularly in the Island of Mactan. Cordova is one of the two Local Government Units (LGUs) comprising the Island of Mactan.

In 2000 Census, a total of 42,032 were counted as inhabitants of the Municipality of Cordova with a total household of 6,520. The National Census and Statistics Office (NCSO) recorded an average annual growth rate of 4.22%. However, the latest unofficial count disclosed a total population of 45,713 in 2007 with a household of more or less 8,761.

The education of the children and the youths of Cordova are being catered by the existing 14 daycare centers, 11 public elementary schools, 2 private elementary schools, 1 public high school, 1 private high school and 1 public college. The skills training program such as Garment Trade is also available for the Out-of-School Youths and the Adults.

There is no hospital within the town however the Municipal Health Office is there to address health consultations and treatment, immunizations and some minor surgery. The birthing/lying in services are also available in the Municipal Health Office giving assistance to the mothers who will deliver/give birth to their babies.


Basic infrastructure and utilities such as water, power, communication and road networks are also available in the Municipality except in Gilutongan island and in the other small islands where some residents depend upon the generator for power, and rainwater and water from the commercial peddlers for drinking. A solar power was installed in Gilutongan Island in 2000 or 2001 but for lack of maintenance, it is no longer functioning now.
In terms of land use and zone classification, Cordova is dominated by a blend of residential and mixed use areas where subdivisions are encouraged to settle and some commercial and non-polutive industries are allowed to thrive.


Topographically, Cordova is generally flat with 0-3% slope. Its highest elevation does not exceed ten meters above main sea level. The general substrate is of limestones. The outcrops of hard limestone are evident in almost all places making the surface rugged. The limestone type belonging to Carcar formation occupies flanks of ridges and practically all of coastal areas. In terms of vegetation, the portions of the town are made up of cultivated areas of land interspersed with specks of brush and grasslands.


This coastal municipality is being separated from Lapu-Lapu City by a waterway. It is composed of thirteen (13) barangays, 12 of which are found in the mainland while the island barangay of Gilutongan lies in the distant southern portion facing the Municipality of Getafe in Bohol. The Municipality of Cordova also claims territorial and administrative jurisdictions over the small islands of Shell, Tongo, Lava and Nalusuan. Per certification of the Land Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Cordova’s land area is 789.6065 hectares. Its wide intertidal flats or foreshore areas that serve as a fishing ground during high tide and as a gleaning area for the variety of sea shells during low tide and very low tide stretches to more or less 3,500 hectares. During winter seasons, a portion of this area will be filled with white, long-legged migratory birds from Australia and from other cold places in the world. In 2000, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources spotted some 15 different species of migratory birds, the most common is the Chinese Egret.

Cordova also takes pride of its abundant marine resources and habitats. The vast mangrove covers that ensembles like perimeter fences surrounding the mainland prevents the big waves to intrude the dry land and provides food to the some thousands of kilograms of fishes and other marine dependents. The unique and the long variety of sea grasses that can be mistaken as a paved road from a distance during low tide is also a habitat of the dangguit and the other herbivorous fishes.


Coastal Resources Management has been considered by the Municipality of Cordova as one of the basic services. It is being evidenced by its establishment of the renowned Gilutongan Marine Sanctuary in 1999 and the Nalusuan Island Marine Sanctuary in 2002. The tip of Day-as Wharf in Barangay Day-as which sits on a mangrove plantation was also declared as a Marine Habitat Village in 2003. This environmental protection effort is the Cordovanhons’ way of expressing their gratitude to the Almighty God for blessing the town with so much natural bounties. Eventually, this effort gives birth to other activities and opportunities for the Cordovanhons such as Tourism and Livelihood.


It is not only the environment that is being protected by the Local Government of Cordova but its culture and heritage is also being preserved. Not so known to many Cordovanhons, Cordova is very rich in cultural heritage. Everybody knows of King Lapu-Lapu in the Battle of Mactan but only very few know Cordova’s very own hero, King Dagami who came from Barangay Gabi, Cordova, Cebu. Thus, the importance of remembering the past surfaced and is now being recognized by the Officials so that the Cordovanhons would know their origin and would be able to establish an identity of its own. Cordovanhons’s way of celebrating their past is expressed through a dance-drama or mardi gras known as the Cordova Dinagat-Bakasi Festival., which depicts Cordova’s fishing lifestyle. In addition to this, Cordovanhons’ effort to preserve culture is being deepened by the LGU-initiated study of the Cebuano language.

Being proximate to the Mactan – Cebu International Airport and adjacent to the giant and urbanized cities in Cebu (Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu), Cordova encounters a spill over of development and it would not be surprising if soon Cordova’s pace of economic growth will change from not so fast to very fast.