LA TRNINIDAD, Benguet – Mayor Romeo K. Salda praised the commitment of Benguet caretaker congressman and Anti-Crime and Terrorism through Community Involvement and Support (ACT-CIS) Party-list Rep. Eric Go Yap to fastrack the passage of pending proposed bills in the House of Representatives that seeks to convert the first-class town into a component city.
Earlier, Congressman Yap committed to Benguet Mayors that one of his priorities when Congress opens its second regular session will be the passage of his two proposals that seek to convert La Trinidad into a component city to help spur the economic growth of the province’s capital town and establish its identity as one of the premier growth areas in the Cordillera.
Salda said that the people and officialdom of the municipality are pinning their hopes to the efforts of the lawmaker to achieve its long overdue aspiration of becoming a city because of the pretentious growth of its economy.
“We are very lucky to have a lawmaker who is passionate in pursuing the passage of the bills that he filed in the present Congress. We will surely treasure the outcome of Congressman Yap’s efforts to have his La Trinidad cityhood proposals passed in the House so that we will be able to elevate the status of our municipality to a higher level,” Mayor Salda stressed.
More on La Trinidad and its attempt for cityhood:
La Trinidad reverts back to GCQ rules
Salda welcomes La Trinidad cityhood bill
Caretaker pushes for cityhood of La Trinidad
Salda wants scrapping of int’l exchange student program in La Trinidad
Yap previously filed House Bill (HB) 6636 that seeks to convert all capital towns of provinces without cities to component cities and HB 6637 that seeks to convert La Trinidad into a component city of Benguet.
The local chief executive disclosed that the proposed bills will have to undergo the required public consultations with the different sectors of the municipality to get their insights on the proposals and their suggestions on how to improve the same for the benefit of the residents.
Former Benguet Rep. Ronald M. Cosalan filed several bills to convert La Trinidad into a component city during his three terms but the same was not passed.
Salda admitted that there are different opinions that are now coming out on the proposed conversion of the municipality into a city but such issues and concerns will be appropriately addressed during the conduct of the public consultations by the concerned House Committee to help in providing inputs that will translate to an improved version of the pending measure.
Based on the criteria for the conversion of first-class municipalities to component cities, a local government must have a population of at least 150,000, internally generated resources of at least P100 million and a land area of at least 10,000 hectares.
However, in the case of La Trinidad, it could not meet the requirement for minimum land area because it only has more than 8,000 hectares as it has a standing boundary dispute with the nearby town of Tublay.
Aside from being Benguet’s capital town, La Trinidad is also known as the Strawberry and Rose Capital of the country being the major producer of the famous strawberry fruit and cut flowers that are patronized by foreign and domestic visitors frequenting the municipality.
Further, La Trinidad is also the center of trade, commerce and education in the province being adjacent to Baguio City, one of the preferred tourist destinations in the country.
By Hent
Photo by Armando M. Bolislis
You might also like:
