San Pedro puts on best face for cityhood

SAN PEDRO, Laguna—With a steady rise in population and revenues, and a P300-million municipal hall, government officials believe this town has the makings of a component city.

Vice President Jejomar Binay and other officials also threw their support to San Pedro’s cityhood bid during the inauguration of the modern town hall, which municipal information officer George Tayag described as an “audacious” display of progress.

“This … (symbolizes) the transformation (of San Pedro) into a highly urbanized (municipality). The higher the building, the sturdier and deeper the foundation,” Binay said.

Saying how he was awed by the new structure, Binay teased his son, Makati City Mayor Junjun Binay, who was also present at the inauguration, that it was no longer just Makati that could boast of a “beautiful” government office.

The five-floor building to be equipped with modern communications and security facilities was built on a 6,600 square-meter donated lot at the town center. It was inaugurated on Friday but will be fully operational in October.

“When I was a child, San Pedro was just like a barrio,” said Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, who was also a guest at the ceremony.

He said the new municipal building symbolized progress not only in the town but also in Laguna.

San Pedro, in the southern outskirts of Metro Manila and adjacent to the cities of Biñan and Sta. Rosa, is the only town in the first district of Laguna that is not a city.

It vied for city status four years ago, but it failed in the category of land area, Tayag said. “What we did was to work on our income,” he said.

The Local Government Code of 1991 requires a municipality to meet at least two of three requirements to become a city—land area, an annual income of at least P100 million and a population of at least 150,000.

A pamphlet distributed during the inauguration rites puts San Pedro’s annual income at P400 million and population at 300,000. It has 50 banks, 6,000 business establishments, 140 subdivisions and 15 industrial companies.

Tayag said the new government building marks the town’s new bid for city status, which Laguna first district Rep. Dan Fernandez will sponsor as a bill this month.

Gov. ER Ejercito, however, said in his speech that city status for San Pedro and another town, Cabuyao, would reduce the province’s income from real property taxes by as much as P500 million.