President Rodrigo Duterte has proclaimed the city of San Jose Del Monte (SJDM) in Bulacan as a highly-urbanized city, and San Jose Rep. Florida “Rida” Robes thanked him for it.
“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,” Robes said.
She led the inauguration of the City of San Jose Del Monte Convention Center in Sapang Palay village last Saturday, and said that the President, through Proclamation 1057, declared San Jose Del Monte as highly-urbanized city subject to ratification in a plebiscite by qualified voters in the city.
Robes and her husband, San Jose del Monte Mayor Arthur Robes, also led the inauguration of the CSJDM Convention Center, the first convention center in the city that is part of President Duterte’s Build, Build, Build program. It is expected to encourage entrepreneurship and give full play to the development of more micro, small and medium enterprises in the city and at the same time attract more investments in commerce and industry to create more jobs.
Robes also delivered her State-of-the-District Address to inform the city of the programs and plans and other development projects that have been in place to help the city cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Duterte, under Proclamation 1057, said that under Section 453 of Republic Act 7160, or the Local Government Code of 1991, the President shall declare a city a highly-urbanized city within thirty days after it has achieved a minimum population of 200,000 as certified by the Philippine Statistics Authority and an income of at least P50 million as certified by the City Treasurer.
“The population and income of the City of San Jose Del Monte have been verified and attested to by the Philippine Statistic Authority and the Department of Finance’s Bureau of Local Government Finance, respectively,” Duterte said.
Duterte’s proclamation came after the Sangguniang Panglungsod of San Jose Del Monte, through Resolution 2019-059-09, requested the that President declare the city as a highly-urbanized city.
Robes said the city was on its way to development with the implementation of inclusive, sound and sustainable programs to improve the lives of the people of San Jose Del Monte.
“Our end-goal, of course, is to improve the quality of life of the people of San Jose del Monte. We have laid the groundwork for that and we are seeing the fruits of our hard work. We are now a city on the rise and I believe that we can push our city further forward through the help and support of our beloved San Joseños,” she said.
One of such notable programs, Robes said, was the CSJDM Convention Center, the first convention center in the city. The convention center has a 1,300-capacity main ballroom, two big function rooms and four conference rooms.
