LAPU-LAPU City Mayor Paz Radaza is initiating another tourism attraction in the city dubbed as the “Old Opon Walk.”
Various representatives from Sangguniang Kabataan, the Muslim community, the Kababayen-an Association, Red Cross, Barangay Poblacion Task Force, City Traffic Management System, the Department of Education, Birhen sa Regla Parish and Poblacion vendors association, gathered last Saturday to discuss the initiative.
The “Old Opon Walk” will soon be included in the “Gabii sa Kabilin” heritage tour.
Balbino “Ka Bino” Guerero and Joselito “Boy” Costas, the mayor’s consultants on product development and community development respectively, will teach the stakeholders about their respective role during the activity.
Mayor Radaza said in her speech the “Old Opon Walk” needs the cooperation of each stakeholder by informing visitors about the story behind the old municipal hall and why Lapu-Lapu’s statue is holding an alho (pestle) instead of a bow and arrow and the history of the old Birhen sa Regla church and other products, food and services in the city.
During the Gabii sa Kabilin initiated by the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc., with the Cebu City government and other component cities last May, only the Mactan shrine was highlighted in Lapu-Lapu City.
Now, the city government is working for the inclussion of the cultural sites in barangay Poblacion in the next Gabii sa Kabilin through the “Old Opon Walk,” where visitors ride a ferry boat from Pier 3 in Cebu Ciity to the old Muelle Osmena wharf and walk toward the cultural sites.
Radaza tasked city tourism head Hembler Mendoza to oversee the project. /CORRESPONDENT NORMAN V. MENDOZA