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NAGUILIAN
NAGUILIAN
INTRODUCTION
Situational Analysis
to improving the well-being of the world's burgeoning urban population (UN, 2014). Half
of the world’s population now lives in cities and projections are that this figure will
increase to two thirds by 2030. The shift to urban dominance is irreversible (Cities
Alliance, 2014).
The growing number of cities in the world can be attributed to many reasons.
According to Lakeside City Alliances (2014), the benefits of cityhood are: first,
government closer to people and more responsive to their needs; second, more control
over land use (zoning) and development to decide on things like new subdivisions,
teardowns, construction, apartments, strips malls and other uses; third, mechanism to
revitalize residential and commercial area; fourth, tax equity; fifth, improved community
identity; and sixth, improved quality of life. Moreover, Goldfield (2013) opined that
economic progress is the engine of cityhood. Without railroads, factories, and steamers
make it harder for people to get around and get access to basic services, especially in vast
slums where the poor live far away from their jobs, medical services and food stores. A
municipality, city, or community starts the process of becoming healthy when its political
leadership, its local organizations, and its citizens commit continuously and progressively
between local authorities, grassroots organizations, public institutions, and the private
sector (Organización Panamericana de Salud, 2005 as cited by Arteaga, et. al., 2008). It
J., 2011).
According to Kersting and Vetter (2003) as cited by De Ceuninck, et. al., (2010),
all reforms like municipal merging come down to two fundamental principles: an
or administrative reforms are not placed on the political agenda out of the blue. They
to a booming political subdivision of the State. Pacoy and Balais (2005) opined that cities
are said to be the driving force in social and economic development. This is tantamount
to saying that the achievement of the desired level of development eventually follows
after one has gained the cityhood status. In the pursuit of achieving development
objectives in the area of local governance, various changes in local government structure
has been effected. Among these changes in local government structure have been pursued
include the merging of towns to constitute a city, the division of a big metropolis into
smaller cities, and the conversion of towns and municipalities into cities.
In the Philippines, some of the first towns which sought the conversion to
cityhood are the municipalities in Metro Manila. Among these towns are Mandaluyong,
Pasig, Marikina, Parañaque, and Makati. As stipulated in Republic Act 7160 or the Local
Government Code of 1991 popularly known as the Code, the power of creating and
Philippines. An LGU unit may be created, divided, merged, and abolished by law enacted
subdivision.
Philippines. All Philippine cities are chartered cities, whose existence as corporate and
the Code, which specifies their administrative structure and powers. As of September
2012, there are 143 cities (National Statistical Coordinating Board, 2013).
In more particular cases, there are however bills filed in 2013 which are nearing
to be junked. First is the case of the proposed cityhood of Narvacan, Ilocos Sur which
still has to fulfil the income requirement. At present, the town is classified as second class
municipality (Flores, 2014). Likewise, the city charter bill of Baler, Aurora is expected to
optimistic that such lacking will be remedied by a pending bill giving automatic cityhood
to capitals of provinces without cities by freeing the capital towns of provinces from the
income needs of the cityhood (Gonzales, 2014). Lastly, the bill for the conversion of
municipality of Kalibo, Aklan to city maybe dropped due to lacking in the required
standards for cityhood in terms of population and land area even if it has more than
municipality into a component city is the empowerment of cities to deal with local issues.
Regular municipalities now share many of the same powers and responsibilities as
chartered cities, but its citizens and/or leaders may feel that it might be to their best
interest to get a larger share of Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) and acquire additional
powers by becoming a city, especially if the population and local economy has grown
enough. On the other hand, due to the higher property taxes that would be imposed after
cityhood, many citizens have become wary of their town's conversion into a city, even if
the municipality had already achieved a high degree of urbanization and has an annual
income that already exceeds that of many lower-income cities (Guttierez, 2013).
Municipalities aspire for cityhood mainly for the effectual changes in their fiscal
Aside from the fiscal factor, political payoffs have also motivated the creation of
new cities. Because recent court decisions have defined a city that converted from a
municipality to be essentially a different LGU from the latter, municipalities with mayors
facing term limit appear to be more likely to convert to cities. Moreover, mayors who
oversaw the city conversion are likely to be succeeded by another member of the same
political clan, which is why they spend their time, effort and political capital to advocate
Concerns have been raised that with the continuous increase in the number of city
conversions, the country will eventually be full of cities and without municipalities. This
will make the delivery of essential services less efficient given the number of functions
devolved to municipalities that will be left to the care of only the barangays. There is also
The Code classifies cities into three categories: the highly urbanized cities, the
independent component cities and the component cities. In the case of the Province of La
Union, there is only one component city, the City of San Fernando known as the “City of
Health and Wellness of Northern Luzon” and once called as the “Botanical Garden City
of the North”. It was chartered into a component city by virtue Republic Act No. 8509,
signed into law on February 13, 1998 by Fidel V. Ramos and ratified on March 20, 1998
through plebiscite.
translation "Now Naguilian" and now is the time for all Naguilianons to act for true
prosperity, unity, peace & order, environmental awareness and among other aspect
towards a progressive town and eventually into cityhood. The local chief executive is
confident that the conversion of Municipality of Naguilian into a city will be realized
because of the positive economic and infrastructure developments in the town. The
mayor’s priority programs are focused on the creation of a new business district,
sanitation. Additional school buildings are expected to rise in different areas including
the construction of Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University (DMMMSU) East-
La Union Campus.
survey is 54,221. Although the municipality of Naguilian did not reach the minimum
Municipality with a 2016 actual annual income of Php 198,308,345.50 and Php
175,483,104.21 as of 2018. Given this scenario, the mayor concluded that more business
investors are coming in to generate employment. “We are now ready to become a city,”
he said. In terms of Land area, 104.60 sq. km2 is the total land area of the Municipality.
The Municipality of Naguilian reached the minimum requirements of application
for the cityhood. Therefore, the current administration is eyeing for a cityhood.
Timeliness of the issue stirred the researchers to conduct this case study. Aside
from the fact that these are the well-timed themes wanting to explore in the study of local
governance is an institutions and actors from within and beyond government. It identifies
the blurring of boundaries and responsibilities for tackling social and economic issues. It
and recognizes the capacity to get things done which does not rest on the power of
This supports the study O’Toole (2000) as cited by Ewalt (2001) that governance
theory highlights the multivariate character of policy, considers the design and operation
of policy, considers the design and operation of policy structures and actions, and focuses
on the “multi-layered structural context of rule-governed understandings, along with the
delivery. Addressing governance requires attending to social partners and ideas about
institutional capacity to make decisions and enforce them within a geographical territory
(Hamilton et al., 2004; Norris 2001; Stoker 1998). As such, due to this political and
urban policy; and city-country consolidation implies agreeing to a set of urban economic
policies (cited by Odogba, 2009). Legal framework also supports the capacity to merge
municipalities into a component city through the Code which states that the creation of a
component city serves primarily as a general purpose for the government through
coordination and delivery of basic, regular and direct services and effective governance
of the inhabitants within its territorial jurisdiction. It may be created, divided, merged or
abolished, or its boundary substantially altered only by an act of Congress subject to the
criteria provided in the Code. A municipal corporation can only exist if it has legal
or the Cityhood Law increases the income requirement for cityhood from P20 million to