WELCOME TO THE CITY OF LAPU-LAPU
Lapu-Lapu, chartered city of the central Philippines, in Cebu Province, on the western coast of Mactan Island. Lapu-Lapu lies about 5 km (about 3 mi) across Cebu Harbor from the city of Cebu and is part of the Cebu metropolitan area. The short Mactan-Mandaue Bridge connects Lapu-Lapu and the rest of Mactan Island with Mandaue on Cebu Island.
Lapu-Lapu is a port and industrial center noted for its thermal installations, which burn petroleum for energy; corn and flour milling; fishing; and handmade guitars. The Mactan International Airport is located adjacent to Lapu-Lapu, as is the Mactan Export Processing Zone (MEPZ), an industrial tax-free zone that opened in 1979. The MEPZ includes approximately 35 business ventures, about 50 percent of which are Japanese-owned. Tourism is also important in Lapu-Lapu; visitors are drawn to the excellent beaches and coral reefs of eastern Mactan.
Lapu-Lapu, formerly Opon, is named after the famous Chief Lapulapu, who is believed to have killed the Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan when he arrived on the east coast of Mactan Island in 1521. In 1886 a monument to Magellan was erected at the site of the conflict, and a monument to Chief Lapulapu stands in the citys plaza. During the 1980s Lapu-Lapus population increased by an annual average growth rate of 4 percent. Population (1999 estimate) 200,871.
