Mayor finds way to boost cityhood bid of Camarines town

By Inquirer Southern Luzon, Jonas Cabiles Soltes

Philippine Daily Inquirer

DAET, Camarines Norte—Mayor Tito Sarion said the municipal government dug out new information that could boost the cityhood bid of this capital town.

“We have recently discovered new information which may lead to the reacquisition of sufficient land area based on the record in the creation of the municipalities of Basud and San Vicente,” said Sarion.

Daet, located 365 kilometers southeast of Manila, has been aspiring for cityhood but is prevented from being a city by its land area.

Under the Local Government Code, one of the requirements for a town to become a city is for it to have a land area not less than 100 square kilometers but the National Statistical Coordination Board said Daet’s land area is only 46 sq km.

But Sarion said the technical descriptions reflected on old maps showed that Daet has been wrongly sliced off of its territory upon the creation of the two neighboring towns.

“We already requested the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to resolve this concern,” he said.

The law requires that a municipality may be converted into a component city only if it meets two of three requirements: locally generated average annual income of P100 million for the last two consecutive years, contiguous territory of at least 100 sq km, or a population of not less than 150,000 inhabitants.

Sarion said while the town’s local income is only more than P50 million, it would be easy for Daet, a first-class town with a population of 98,184, to meet the P100-million annual income threshold.

“What makes me optimistic is the fact that Daet has already attained the physical requirement of a true city. Compared to other small cities, Daet is better equipped in terms of facilities and other physical development standards,” he said.

He said the strict implementation of revenue collection measures would make it possible to increase the town’s annual income.

“We are now considering the automation of our revenue generating centers to address this matter,” he said.

“If our municipality would reacquire the areas which could have been mistakenly apportioned to neighboring towns, we would meet the 100-sq km land area requirement. With that, we would meet two of the three requirements for cityhood,” said Sarion.

The cityhood bid of Daet is also boosted by a pending House Bill which makes it mandatory to have one city in every province. There is no city in Camarines Norte.

Sarion said Daet would have a bigger share of the internal revenue allotment from the national government if it becomes a city.

“We will also have a more liberal taxing power. More revenue means more funds for better delivery of services,” he said.