SANTA CRUZ MAYOR EDGAR SAN LUIS

Santa Cruz is a lovely, vibrant municipality in the province of Laguna, which sits adjacent to Laguna Lake. As its provincial capital, it is one of the key municipalities that is home to field offices of numerous national government agencies, banks, and businesses, making it an important governance and commercial center in eastern Laguna. In the past decades, Santa Cruz was considered a key trading post, where goods from Manila and around the region would be brought. And due to this, business and enterprises flourished. Santa Cruz idealizes the idyllic provincial life. It’s quiet and beautiful, but abuzz with dynamic economy.

Santa Cruz, Laguna Mayor Edgar S. San Luis, fondly called “Egay,” hopes to bring back the “good old days” by re-energizing several industries post-pandemic such as agriculture, fishing, and duck and poultry raising.

Reminiscing those days in his childhood, he starts: “I remember Santa Cruz, when I was in elementary, malakas ang fishing industry. We’re adjacent to Laguna Lake, but today, it’s not suitable for massive fishing. We were also a major supplier of salted eggs and balut at that time. And we are planning to bring all those back.”

Survival and Service
And these plans are timely, especially as many of Santa Cruz citizens have been adversely affected by the pandemic. Economy was significantly hit, needless to say, and the “normal way of life, lahat naapektuhan because we were caught flat-footed,” he admits. “Nobody knew how to deal with the pandemic so naging reactive.”