Mandaue

A community was established in Mandaue by a flourishing group of Austronesian people. The Venetian chronicler Antonio Pigafetta wrote of a settlement called misspelled the place Mandani which existed in the area with a chieftain named Apanoaan[7] some called him Lambuzzan in other accounts.[8]

Mandaue natives were forced into a town as decreed by the Spanish authorities. This may have started off as a mission village (which included present day Consolacion, Liloan and Poro) serving as a bulwark for the church in the northern Cebu and was managed by the Jesuit in 1638 then a century later by the Recollects.[9]

The Philippine revolution in 1898 gave the town a new form of administration in accordance with the organic decree of the Central Revolutionary Government. The short-lived revolution was overthrown by the American Troops and a battle nearly destroyed the town in 1901, killing Presidente Benito Ceniza.[10]

Mandaue was a semi-autonomous functioning town. Semi-autonomous as it was still under the jurisdiction of Cebu. Despite having been developed and organized by the Spaniards through-out the ages and its population increasing as the years gone by, the Spaniards did not make an initiative to elevate the town into an independent municipality. It was only after the death of Presidente Ceniza and the establishment of American Rule in Mandaue that the dream of becoming an independent municipality came true. In 1901, Mandaue became an independent municipality.[11]

Mandaue became independent from being an American Commonwealth and a Japanese garrison on July 4, 1946 along with the entire nation. Mandaue became a chartered city on August 30, 1969 and decades later it was recognized as an HUC (Highly Urbanized City) on February 15, 1991.[12] In early-April 2019, Duterte signed a law that declared Mandaue City as a lone legislative district, which means that it will be separated from the sixth district, and will have its own representative of the lone district.[13][14]

The city has a total area of 34.87 km² (13.46 sq mi). According to the 2015 census, the population density is 10,000/km² (26,000/sq mi).

Land utilization

Category Land Area ha acres Industrial 1,695 4,190 51.4%      Residential 872 2,150 26.5%      Agricultural 283 700 8.6%      Commercial 242 600 7.3%      Roads 120 300 3.6%      Institutional 60 150 1.8%      Parks 24 59 0.7%

The city is the 6th smallest government unit in terms of land area; among the Metro Cebu local government units the city is the second smallest next to the municipality of Cordova in the island of Mactan. The city's land area is only 4.5% of the total land area of Metro Cebu and less than 1% of the total land of the province of Cebu.

The North Reclamation Project, now known as the North Special Administrative Zone, currently has about 180 ha (440 acres) reclaimed land. Of the 180 hectares, about 36 ha (89 acres) belong to the city.

It is one of the two (the other one being the municipality of Consolacion) local government units located within the mainland Metro Cebu where the elevation of land is less than 100 m (330 ft).

Many of the areas of the city are extremely flat. About 77.37% is within the 0-8% slope category. Barangays belonging to this region are Centro, Looc, South Special Administrative Zone, Cambaro, Opao, Umapad, Paknaan, Alang-alang, Tipolo, Ibabao, Guizo, Subangdaku, Mantuyong, Maguikay and Tabok. The greater portion of the city, comprising about 70%, is dominated by the Mandaue Clay Loam soil series. This is found in the 0-2% and 2-5% slope ranges. Faraon clay loam characterizes the rest of the land with slope range from 5-8% and up to 25-40%.[15]

Barangays

Aerial photo of the Mactan Channel looking south. Mandaue is on the right side while Lapu-Lapu City is on the left

Mandaue comprises 27 barangays.

Political map of Mandaue

Bakilid (Est. 1928) Cambaro (Est. 1990) Casili (Est. 2006) Looc (Est. 1910) Tingub (Est. 1992)

PSGC	Barangay	Population			±% p.a.
		2015[3]		2010[17]
072230001	Alang-alang	3.7%	13,457	12,475	▴	1.45%
072230002	Bakilid	1.3%	4,591	5,027	▾	−1.71%
072230003	Banilad	6.3%	22,771	22,297	▴	0.40%
072230004	Basak	2.9%	10,606	7,858	▴	5.88%
072230005	Cabancalan	3.9%	14,132	12,202	▴	2.84%
072230006	Cambaro	2.6%	9,474	8,082	▴	3.07%
072230007	Canduman	5.2%	18,852	17,100	▴	1.87%
072230008	Casili	1.3%	4,558	3,743	▴	3.82%
072230009	Casuntingan	4.1%	14,690	13,217	▴	2.03%
072230010	Centro (Poblacion)	0.9%	3,383	3,236	▴	0.85%
072230011	Cubacub	2.8%	10,284	8,255	▴	4.27%
072230012	Guizo	2.7%	9,623	8,554	▴	2.27%
072230013	Ibabao-Estancia	2.6%	9,503	8,641	▴	1.83%
072230014	Jagobiao	3.8%	13,685	12,227	▴	2.17%
072230015	Labogon	5.8%	21,028	19,175	▴	1.77%
072230016	Looc	4.7%	17,143	14,438	▴	3.32%
072230017	Maguikay	4.0%	14,645	17,782	▾	−3.63%
072230018	Mantuyong	1.8%	6,540	5,869	▴	2.08%
072230019	Opao	3.2%	11,457	9,907	▴	2.81%
072230020	Paknaan	7.4%	26,943	22,957	▴	3.10%
072230021	Pagsabungan	5.6%	20,335	16,838	▴	3.66%
072230022	Subangdaku	4.9%	17,714	20,333	▾	−2.59%
072230023	Tabok	5.0%	18,167	15,709	▴	2.81%
072230024	Tawason	1.4%	4,958	4,891	▴	0.26%
072230025	Tingub	1.9%	6,774	5,780	▴	3.07%
072230026	Tipolo	5.2%	18,840	17,273	▴	1.67%
072230027	Umapad	5.1%	18,501	17,454	▴	1.12%
	Total		362,654	44,732	▴	48.95%

Data showed that the oldest written accounts of Mandaue came from a population of 160 in 1637 to 1638. Mandaue had 10,309 souls according to the Buzeta & Bravo (1850). During the first year of its township in 1899, Mandaue had 42 barrios with a population of 21,086. When Mandaue was a second class municipality in 1964 its population was 33,811.[20]

According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 362,654, which is an increase of 102,926. Mandaue has a significantly large population at or below the poverty line.[21]

About 40 percent of Cebu's export companies are found in Mandaue. The city is dubbed as the industrial hub of Region VII and hosts about 10,000 industrial and commercial businesses, making it a “little rich city” in the country. It is home to some of the world's biggest companies such as San Miguel Corp., Coca-Cola Bottling Corp. and Shemberg, the number one exporter of carrageenan. Mandaue City also accounts for 75 percent of the country's total exports in the furniture sector, making the city the furniture capital of the country.[22]

Cebu International Convention Centre

Bantayan sa Hari, 1912

Mandaue's point of interests, destinations, and attractions include:

Masareal from Mandaue

Mandaue has many restaurants which cater to gourmets and international cuisines like Italian, Japanese, Indian, Mediterranean, Lebanese, Arabic, Russian, Korean, Mexican, and Western cuisines. A variety of restaurants also serves meals of local cuisine.

Many famous Cebuano meals like the lechon[26] or inasal, eaten with achara or pickled vegetables. The sugba or barbecue of either isda (fish), baboy (pork), manok (chicken) or baka (beef) is found all over Mandaue eaten with puso, a diamond-shaped hanged rice covered in coco leaves. Kinilaw[27] is raw meat usually pork or fish drenched in vinegar and salt. The buwad or dried seafood, either fish or squid, can be pungent with a crunchy and chewy texture. There are some exotic meals that can be found like dinuguan or pig's blood which is eaten like a soup. Barbecued chicken feet are liked by many locals.

Original cuisine in Mandaue includes bibingka which is steamed rice cakes mixed with coconut and sometimes egg. Binangos paired with rice is made of ground up corn with Bolinao fish. This dish is found only in Mandaue; other delicacies includes the tagaktak, the seasonal buriring fish (stewed with iba) and the famous masareal.

Philippine Jeepney

Mandaue City's road network is composed of a national highway which connects the city to its neighboring cities and municipalities, and a national secondary road which traverses the city's metropolitan area. The total length of the city road network (paved and unpaved) and the four bridges, is about 133.7 km (83.1 mi), broken down into:

• National road - 13.2 km (8.2 mi)
• City road - 57.1 km (35.5 mi)
• Barangay road - 63.4 km (39.4 mi)

Road density is 5.31 km/km² (8.55 mi/sq mi) of land. In terms of population, road density is 0.04 km (0.025 mi) per one thousand inhabitants.

Land transportation is being served by PUJ, utility vehicles, mini-buses, multi-cabs, tricycles, trisikads and for cargoes, trailers and vans. Sea transport of Mandaue is highly dependent on Port of Cebu and Cebu International Port, because of the city's proximity to these facilities.

Lapu-Lapu–Mandaue campus of the University of Cebu.

Mandaue houses two universities, the Cebu Doctors' University and the Lapu-Lapu–Mandaue campus of the University of Cebu. There are also technical schools like TESDA in barangays Banilad and Looc and other private institutions that provide certificate degrees. Associate degree, Baccalaureate Degrees, Master's and Doctoral programs.

Mandaue has institutionalized learning with the Cabahug Medal which was started on 1923 by Sotero Cabahug as a medal of academic excellence annually. The Mandaue Fraternal Society was also created in the early part of the 19th century to provide a community for the professionals during the time when Mandaue was still a sleepy town.

Cebu's part-time Japanese school, the Cebu Japanese School (CJS; セブ補習授業校 Sebu Hoshū Jugyō Kō), is located on the fifth floor of the Clotilde Commercial Center in Barangay Casuntingan, Mandaue City.[28]

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Mandaue.

• Mandaue Profile at PhilAtlas.com