TABUK CITY, Kalinga – The local government is currently preparing for the future status of the city as the regional center once the Cordillera will achieve the desired establishment of the autonomous region.
Mayor Darwin C. Estran֮ero admitted that the city is not yet ready to become the regional center of the Cordillera but efforts are being undertaken to prepare for such status once the autonomous region will be established.
“Tabuk is not ready to become the regional center at this time but we are doing our best to prepare the city once the region will achieve autonomy in the future,” Mayor Estran֮ero stressed.
The local chief executive disclosed that there is a 165-hectare reservation within the Talaka area which is ideal to be converted into a regional center that is why the local government will acquire the said property for its projected future use once the Cordillera will be converted into an autonomous region.
He expressed the gratitude of the city’s people and officialdom on the repeated pronouncements of other local officials and the Regional Development Council (RDC) in the Cordillera identifying Tabuk as the future regional centers it will help in enticing more investors to establish their businesses in strategic areas in the city.
According to him, the city is currently updating its development plans and other related programs and projects to be able to ensure the readiness of Tabuk once the autonomous region will be established through the enactment of the proposed autonomy law which is now being deliberated upon in Congress.
The mayor said that Tabuk is supportive on the renewed quest of the Cordillera to achieve autonomy because of the enormous benefits that will accrue to the regional government and the powers that will be devolved allowing the autonomous government to formulate policies, programs, projects and activities that are feasible on the region’s peculiar terrain.
He called on Cordillerans to unite in supporting the clamor for the establishment of the autonomous region so that the region will not be left behind in terms of growth and development because the regional government will be able to decide on what will be the appropriate programs, projects and policies that are applicable instead of relying on the central government to cascade to the local governments such programs that turn out to be not feasible to the current state of the Cordillera.
Tabuk is the country’s third largest city with a land area of more than 700.1 square kilometers behind Davao City in Mindanao and Ilagan City in nearby Isabela.
Further, the city is also known as the rice granary of the Cordillera because of the presence of tens of thousands of hectares of agricultural farms that primarily produce rice.
Estran֮ero underscored the potentials of growth and development that the city will undergo in the coming years that is why appropriate policies must have to be put in place at the earliest possible time to ensure that there will be a balance between the development projects that will be implemented and the city’s status as an agricultural area.
