The City of San Fernando joins the other cities in the country to a protest regarding the undue conversion of 16 municipalities into cities and the possible conversion of another 27 capital towns into cities.
During the flag raising ceremony in front of the city hall this morning, the Philippine flag was flown half-mast and the city hall officials and staff led by Mayor Pablo C. Ortega, wore arm bands to show their support to the league’s plight. Mayor Ortega said that 100% of the City Mayors League signed a common manifesto to signify their protest.
The League of Cities of the Philippines announces that it is not against the creation of new cities as long as they meet the requirements of the law. It is against the circumvention of the law.
The Local Government Code of 1991 as amended by Republic Act 9009 states that in order to be converted into a city, a municipality must have a minimum locally generated income of 100 million pesos, 150,000 population, and 100 square kilometer land area.
Recently, the 13th congress enacted for the conversion of the 16 municipalities into cities without meeting the requirements mandated by law. The existing cities agree that they suffer the consequence of a decreased Internal Revenue Allocation (IRA). Instead of getting 14.3% additional IRA for 2008, the cities will only get 4.7%. They believe that this substantial reduction will adversely affect the delivery of basic services.
In the City of San Fernando, about 23 million pesos was deducted from its IRA for 2008.
By virtue of Republic Act 8509, the City of San Fernando was converted into a component city on March 20, 1998. Prior to its conversion, the City has satisfactorily met the basic requirements for its city hood. |
