Instead of pushing to create new provinces, municipalities in Palawan will do well to achieve economic growth by striving for cityhood.
Cynthia Sumagaysay-del Rosario, convenor of OnePalawan movement, cited the reported plan of Narra to aim for cityhood, noting that it is also applicable to other towns.
“This will render useless the division of Palawan into three. Any municipality, if it is able to meet the basic legal requirements, can be a city,” del Rosario told Palawan News.
Outgoing Narra mayor Lucy Demaala earlier said Governor Jose Chavez Alvarez is “passionate” about wanting the town to be converted into a city in three years.
“He wants Narra not just to be the capital of the proposed province of Southern Palawan but also a city, ” Demaala said.
She said there are only three criteria for a town to become a city: population, land area and annual income, which the town can easily comply.
Narra has 83,229.83 hectares in land area and a total population of 81,179 inhabitants and P61 million Local Annual Income.
“It can happen to Narra, Brooke’s Point, Taytay, or Roxas. If the mayors are saying they want their areas to have more opportunities for development, they can do so,” del Rosario said.
She added that local government units have the tools and resources already under the Local Government Code.
“No one is stopping them. The expected increase in their Internal Revenue Allotment share will be beneficial to them,” she pointed out.
She added that if towns become cities there is “No need to rely on the provincial government, they have to be truly independent and empowered in fulfilling their functions and in making their constituents feel that the government is already closer thru them, just by doing their jobs well.
