Kawit Point used to be an island called Kawit Island that was located about a kilometer off the coast of Cebu City. The reclamation of this area of the Mactan channel that the city undertook connected this island to Cebu’s mainland and it is now part of the South Road Properties (SRP). See the photo below to see how this island looked back in 1989.

Photo by Fred Umabong.

On October 25, 1904, an Executive Order of the American colonial government handed this 3.9 hectare island under the jurisdiction of the government’s health ministry (which is now the Department of Health) for quarantine purposes. In this respect, Kawit Island functioned in a somewhat similar position to New York City’s Ellis Island. It was only in May 2008 that Pres. Arroyo issued Proclamation 1505 which amended the 1904 order and declared Kawit Island as “alienable and disposable” land. This reverted the management of the island (well a point now, after it was reclaimed in 1999) back to Cebu City.

Currently, the city government is planning to use the area as a public space with some administrative buildings and maybe some tourist facilities. I personally wish that Kawit remained an island and that it be developed as a tourist area (a lá New York’s Coney Island) instead of as a quarantine facility. Don’t you think that would’ve been nice?

Download KML file (for Google Earth)