More towns vie for cityhood
Iloilo City is one of the cities in the country which is threatened by the plans of other municipalities to convert into cityhood. Presently, an additional 23 towns have a pending application at the House of Representatives.
Majority Floor Leader Eduardo Peñaredondo said they were informed by the House of Representatives of the latest move of some capital towns to convert into cities. However, they have no list of the 23 towns that applies for the city hood.
Earlier, 13 towns including those coming from Iloilo province also applied for city hood.
It is believed that the conversion of more towns into cities will automatically decrease the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) share of each city. The more the cities, the lesser IRA share they get.
Peñaredondo added that they will take another stand on the issue once they have already the complete details on the application of 23 towns. Last year, the Sangguniang Panlungsod made a stand on the application of the 13 towns by passing a resolution strongly opposing the plan.
The House of Representatives has already received a copy of the resolution of the Iloilo City council.
The number of towns which asked for a conversion continue to increase as there two House Bills in the House of Representatives which exempt the towns from the income requirement. A town must have a P100 million income to become a city. A town can be classified into a city based on three requirements - income, population and land area.
Most of the members of the congress favored the conversion of some towns in cities and exempting them from the income requirement. This was also countered by the League of the Cities in the Philippines (LCP).