AMONG Cebu's three highly urbanized cities, Mandaue City is the lesser known. Lapu-Lapu City, where the Mactan-Cebu International Airport is located, has its beach resorts while Cebu City has malls, hotels and, of course, the Santo Niño. Mandaue City, a manufacturing hub, is the most congested of the three cities with a population density of 10,400 persons per square kilometer. The 2020 Census measured the city's population as 364,116 — much less than Cebu City's and Lapu-Lapu City's 964,169 and 497,604, respectively. However, Mandaue City's population must by now be closer to 400,000. The 2020 census was conducted at the height of the Covid-19 lockdown when manufacturing operations in both formal and informal sectors were suspended. Many workers left the city and returned to their home provinces, awaiting production to resume.
Being an industrial hub with fewer commercial areas or places where people can hang out, Mandaue City is for visitors a place we pass through on our way to or from the airport. With the opening of the Cebu-Cordova Express Link Expressway (CCLEx) bridge connecting Mactan Island directly to Cebu City, the riding public can bypass Mandaue City and its traffic altogether.
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