Cabanatuan ripe to become an HUC

MANILA, Philippines - This refers to the news item “DILG cites 10 governors, 20 mayors for effective programs” (STAR, Sept. 5) which mentioned Cabanatuan City as one of the component cities that scored high in the Local Governance Performance Management System (LGPMS) for 2010.

It is heartening to note that Cabanatuan City has made it again to the top-performing or best-governed component cities. The first time our city received similar award was in 2007 under the performance evaluation program sponsored and conducted by the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) for LGUs.

Cabanatuan today is raring to become a highly urbanized city (HUC). To borrow the historic pronouncements of Mayor Jay Vergara and former Senator Nene Pimentel, “Ang Cabanatuan ay hinog na hinog na para maging HUC”.

A resolution to this effect was recently passed and approved by the city council. Once the resolution is approved by the President and ratified by the residents, Cabanatuan automatically becomes a separate and independent political subdivision.

Nueva Ecija Gov. Aurelio Umali, however strongly opposed the resolution, saying that Cabanatuan is not yet ready to stand alone and that the city government still needs the support of the provincial government, thereby questioning the ability of the former to govern on its own, once Cabanatuan is declared an HUC.

The prestigious 2007 and now 2010 awards for “good and effective housekeeping” given by the AIM and DILG to the Cabanatuan City government respectively, should allay the honorable governor’s imagined apprehension.