About 50 hotels and restaurants in this historical city offer cheap food as they participate the festival that will mark the celebration of Kadaugan sa Mactan (Victory at Mactan) on April 27.
Mayor Junard Chan said Wednesday that 14 hotels and 34 restaurants and food concessionaires will feature a wide array of delectable cuisine at affordable prices, every night at the Liberty Shrine in Barangay Mactan, from April 18 to 23.
He said the nightly activities will lead to the commemoration of the 502nd anniversary of the Victory at Mactan, which was stalled for two years due to the pandemic caused by the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
“We all know that when we eat at hotels and restaurants, their food is not cheap. But here in Kadaugan sa Mactan, you can eat at affordable prices. This is part of the hotel’s corporate social responsibility as a gift to the Oponganons (Mactan native),” Chan said in a message during the festival’s opening salvo on Tuesday night.
Holding the food festival in person amid the pandemic, the mayor said it marks the total reopening of tourism activities on the island.
“After three years of reeling with the effect of the pandemic, we have now zero Covid-19 in Lapu-Lapu City and we are already under normal conditions. Our tourism is 80 percent back and is getting livelier,” Chan added.
Meanwhile, the city government of Lapu-Lapu has assured that all systems are ready for the 502nd anniversary of Mactan victory after three years of hiatus amid the pandemic.
John Kristoffer Rafols, Lapu-Lapu City Tourism Department chief, said the city allocated PHP4 million budget for the commemoration.
Prior to the event day, the local tourism office organized a range of activities such as historical documentaries, job fairs, tattoo competition, cooking demonstrations, bazaars of local products and a seminar on food catering.
Lapu-Lapu City Lone District Representative Cynthia King-Chan said Department of Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia-Frasco is expected to grace the Victory at Mactan reenactment on April 27. (PNA)