Region 8 gets 3 new cities as approved by Congress
Tacloban City (February 3) -- Region 8 will now have a total of seven cities with the approval by Congress of three more cities.
The province of Leyte will have its third city which is Baybay City found in the fifth Congressional District of the province. The other two cities are of course Tacloban City in the first district and Ormoc City in the third district.
Samar will have its second city, the City of Catbalogan which is the capital town of the province. The first city of the province is Calbayog City.
Eastern Samar will at last have its first city, the City of Borongan which is also the capital town of the province.
Of the six provinces comprising Region 8, it is only Northern Samar and the new province of Biliran which do not have cities yet. The province of Southern Leyte has the City of Maasin created about 9 years ago.
The three newly approved cities are among the 12 cities approved by Congress on the last day of January. These 12 cities brings to 130 the total number of cities in the Philippines.
The attainment to citihood of these municipalities would have a beneficial effect pm their future as they can now undertake their own infrastructure projects as investors are likely to go to cities. These new cities would also get bigger Internal Revenue Allotment from the national government depending on their population and area.
Aside from the three new cities in Region 8, the other new cities are Tayabas in Quezon, Lamitan in Basilan, Tandag in Surigao del Sur, Tabuk in kalinga, Batac in Ilocos Norte, Carcar in Cebu, Bayugan in Agusan del Sur, Cabadbaran in Agusan del Norte and Bogo in Cebu.
Each of these cities has all the requisites necessary for conversion into a component city which are an average annual income as certified by the Department of Finance of at least P20 million for the last two consecutive years based on 1991 constant prices; it has a contiguous territory of at least 100 square kilometers as certified by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM); and it has a population of not less than 150,000 as certified by the National Statistics Office (NSO). (PIA 8) [top]
