Lacson bill making cityhood easier becomes law

Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson

MANILA, Philippines — People in municipalities may soon get better delivery of public services and other benefits of being a city.

This after a bill filed by independent presidential candidate Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson, which eases the requirements for cityhood, became law.

RA 11683, which lapsed into law last April 10, is based on Senate Bill 255 filed by Lacson in July 2019. It is also based on House Bill 8207, the counterpart measure in the Lower House.

“By opening the doors to cityhood for qualified municipalities, the new law allows the local governments to fully operationalize their functions. As such, we address the inequity in national resources, we provide a greater number of our people the effectual impact of being a city – better delivery of public services and a fair share of our progress,” Lacson, who has championed the empowering of local government units, said in a statement.

The new law amends Section 450 of RA 7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991, exempting a municipality from the land and population requirements if it generates at least P100 million for two consecutive years.

Lacson noted it would be unfair to residents of municipalities to be denied cityhood because their town is smaller than 100 square kilometers or has a population of less than 150,000.

“Some municipalities despite their small land area or population have shown they can provide essential government facilities and social services to their inhabitants that are comparable and even above par with existing cities,” he said.

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