Saturday, November 03, 2007 City of San Fernando or San Fernando City? By Albert B. Lacanlale
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- Is the dateline of this story the right title for this component city?
This question seemed to have resurfaced as confusion on the real title of Pampanga's second city vis-à-vis its namesake in the province of La Union persists, prompting the Pampanga Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PamCham) to revisit the charters that converted the two former municipalities into cities.
PamCham executive director Joyce Duldulao said the city in La Union is named "City of San Fernando", which was created by virtue of Republic Act (RA) 8509, sponsored by La Union first district Representative Victor Ortega, signed by then President Fidel Ramos on February 13, 1998 and ratified by the residents via plebiscite on March 20, 1998.
Interestingly though, the country's 99th city in Pampanga was also named "City of San Fernando" in RA 8990, a charter for the city authored by then congressman now San Fernando Mayor Oscar Rodriguez.
The Pampanga capital city's charter, however, was not ratified until February 2001, three years after La Union City was created.
In practice, however, most people refer to La Union City as "San Fernando City." But the local government's official seal, including the signage at City Hall, bear the name "City of San Fernando."
Duldulao said La Union City officials may have gone with the common practice of placing the word "city" after the actual name of the locality, such as Parañaque City, Quezon City, Olongapo City, Angeles City and others, even after the charter has been made.
While others tend to indicate the name of the province after the city to distinguish one over the other, some correspondence have addresses with only the name of the city mentioned. The zip codes, which are also important in the orderly delivery of mails, are oftentimes neglected.
Confusion as regards the names of places usually lead to the delay in the delivery of important documents sent through the posts.
PamCham, Duldulao said, may seek the assistance of congressmen to find the best way to solve the name impasse.
