MALOLOS CITY—In a rare display of unity, all the city and municipal mayors of Bulacan have banded together over the weekend to throw their all-out support for the bid of San Jose Del Monte City Mayor Arthur Robes to achieve “Highly Urbanized City” status.
Similar to the cityhood process, the ratification of SJDM’s HUC status will be submitted to the voting population of the city in a scheduled Plebiscite on October 30, simultaneous with the Barangay and SK elections.
City residents can either vote “YES” to approve its HUC status or reject it.
Once approved, SJDM will become an independent city of Bulacan and thereafter its voters will no longer vote for the governor, vice governor and board members (bokal) of the province in future elections.
However, once SJDM become a HUC, it will still be a part of the province of Bulacan, City Mayor Arthur Robes said.
Spearheading the drive is Malolos City Mayor Christian Natividad who hosted the Mayors League of Bulacan monthly meeting last Friday at the Malolos City Hall.
“As mayor of the capital and historic city, I am taking the role as a big brother of my fellow mayors to support all step towards the autonomy of every municipality and city in Bulacan to fast-track local development initiatives in their area of responsibilities,” Natividad said.
The Malolos mayor said he and the 22 other mayors of Bulacan fully support SJDM’s bid achieve an HUC status being the first municipality in the province to become a city in September 10, 2000 thru Republic Act 8797.
Malolos became the 2nd city of Bulacan on October 8, 2001 thru Republic Act No. 8754. Followed by the City Meycauayan in December 10, 2006 thru RA 9356. And very recently, Baliwag became the fourth city of Bulacan thru RA 11929 after its ratification in a plebiscite on Dec. 18, 2022.
Then President Rodrigo Duterte proclaimed the charter of San Jose del Monte as a ‘highly-urbanized city’ on Dec. 4, 2020 thru Proclamation No. 1057 subject to the ratification that will be held on Oct. 30.
“I am very honored to announce that President Rodrigo Duterte has declared our beloved city a highly-urbanized city,” Rep. Rida Robes said during its approval. “We have long waited for this and we will work more to make us truly deserving of this proclamation for the people of San Jose Del Monte,” she said.
The President has the prerogative to declare a city highly-urbanized within 30 days after it had reached a population of 200,000 or more, as certified by the Philippine Statistics Authority. Also, it should have an income of at least P50 million as certified by its city treasurer.
San Jose del Monte had achieved both qualifications – as “verified and attested to by the Philippine Statistics Authority and the Department of Finance – Bureau of Local Government Finance, as pointed out in his proclamation.
The presidential proclamation was requested by the city government through a resolution.
Mayor Natividad echoed the rationale in the HUC charter of San Jose Del Monte : “It is a declared policy of the government to support the initiatives of local governments to attain their fullest development as self-reliant communities, and make them effective partners in the attainment of national goals.”