Friday, February 01, 2008 Mabalacat cityhood endorsed at PB By Marna H. Dagumboy
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- First District Board Members Tarcicio Halili and Crisostomo Garbo last Wednesday endorsed before the Provincial Board (PB) the approval of the Mabalacat city hood.
In a PB committee en banc hearing last Wednesday, both Halili and Garbo stated that the Mabalaqueños have long been waiting for the conversion of the town from a first-class municipality to a component city.
Halili said the conversion of Mabalacat into a component city is not a hindrance but a gateway to progress and development.
After 13 years of lobbying, Mayor Marino Morales has finally got the nod of the PB on the town's city hood.
Morales expressed confidence that the august body will soon approved the city hood through a resolution.
The mayor said he and his constituents dream that the progressive town will become a city of peace, beauty and progress.
He said the three basic requirements for city hood -- land area, income and population -- were already met by the first-class municipality.
According to Morales, significant structures like the Mabalacat-Clark spur road, interchanges at Dau-Duquit and Cacutud-Dolores areas, and others are already in place.
Secondary roads will be built with the expected huge income (300-700 million pesos) of the new city.
Morales also announced the opening of the Mabalacat Public College in June.
Basic services for health, peace and order, senior citizens and persons with disabilities are being dispensed and will be enhanced with the approval of the application for conversion.
According to Morales, local officials like the town to be a component city in order to provide and generate more jobs for the people.
He said the income of Mabalacat in 2004 was P147,180,092 and P171,660,927.20 in 2005.
A local government unit applying for the conversion to a city should have an annual income of about P100 million for the last two consecutive years, based on 2000 constant prices.
As of May 2000, Mabalacat population was totaled at 171,045. Under Republic Act (RA) 9009, the population of a component city should not be less than 150,000 as certified by the National Statistics Office (NSO).
The income revenue allotment of Mabalacat, Morales said was pegged at P209 million.
He said the application for the cityhood had undergone massive public hearing adding that the Mabalaqueños want the town to become a component city.
First district Representative Carmelo Lazatin sponsored House Bill (HB) 2350 entitled "An Act Converting the Municipality of Mabalacat in the Province of Pampanga into a Component City to be known as the City of Mabalacat."
Through a resolution, the Municipal Council of Mabalacat requested the Congress to upgrade the classification status of the Municipality of Mabalacat, from a first-class local government unit (LGU) into component city.
