Palayan gives city hall major face-lift

PALAYAN CITY, Philippines – The seat of government in this provincial capital is undergoing a major face-lift under the administration of neophyte Mayor Rianne Cuevas who, barely two months in office, has undertaken political and administrative reforms.

With the makeover, Cuevas said the city wants to claim its rightful place among the emerging modern urban areas in the province.

For a start, the city hall is being renovated to make it more elegant and attractive to locals and visitors. For this, Cuevas has hired as her consultant architect Margie Angeles, who was also behind the renovation of the Gapan City hall during the administration of former mayor Christian Tinio.

Angeles said the city hall is now being repainted with a kaleidoscope of colors ranging from stone beige, chocolate brown to white, mocha and cream.

“These are neutral colors personally chosen by the mayor herself,” she said, adding that the colors, along with a landscaped garden, are meant to create a homey, conducive workplace for the city personnel.

At the facade, stainless steel bold letters emphasizing the city as the “Capital of Nueva Ecija” will be installed. 

The existing two-story city hall, which stands in a two-hectare complex in Barangay Singalat, was built through a P50-million loan from the Land Bank of the Philippines in 1998. Architect Reynaldo Flores designed the main building.

This city was created as the new capital of Nueva Ecija on June 19, 1965 by virtue of Republic Act 4475 signed by then President Diosdado Macapagal. It first rose to prominence when it hosted the national jamboree of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines in 1969, attended by thousands of scouts from the Asia-Pacific. 

As part of her administrative reforms, Cuevas has ordered curtains removed from all offices at city hall to “show to the people that we are transparent, that we are not hiding anything and that they are welcome to enter our offices.”

Cuevas expressed optimism that the city – which also hosts the headquarters of the Army’s 7th Infantry Division at the Fort Magsaysay military reservation – would eventually evolve into one of the urbanized cities in the province and in Central Luzon.