Cabanatuan is not yet ready for highly urbanized city status says Umali

CABANATUAN CITY, Nueva Ecija, May 26, 2011-In the recent press briefing, Governor Aurelio Umali insisted that this city is still raw and not yet ready to undergo the transition into a highly urbanized city (HUC). 

“Speaking of Cabanatuan development-wise, it will be “crippled” if it becomes a separate political subdivision because many development projects that were undertaken here in the past by the Umali administration would be stopped once the HUC bid is realized,” Umali said, saying that in assessing the plan, Cabanatuan is not only raw and unripe for HUC. “It is also ill-prepared and not ready,” he said.

“The city government cannot even fix basic problems in governance like garbage disposal, how much more the gargantuan task of being politically independent,” Umali said.

Umali reacted to the controversial plan which resulted to a falling-out with his erstwhile political ally, Cabanatuan Mayor Julius Cesar Vergara wherein Vergara has said that the HUC bid is still under study even when he launched the plan last November.

Umali denied that the HUC plan of Vergara is still being studied, saying that as early as 2004, during the latter’s third and last term, he was already pushing for it.

“In fact, sometime in 2004, I got a call from (then-presidential adviser on political affairs) Gabby Claudio informing me of a request from Mayor Vergara for Malacanang to approve the conversion,” he said. “So as early as 2004, Vergara was already pushing for it.”

“It is my moral obligation for the provincial government to continue helping the people of Cabanatuan in their various needs and concerns, particularly when the city government is incapable of doing so, Umali said, saying that said Cabanatuenos benefited immensely from the Umali administration’s assistance in infrastructure, education, health and even during calamities.

He said that in past typhoons, he took it upon himself to have a social contract to help Cabanatuenos more than the political leadership of the city. The people of Cabanatuan recognize that. And they have been telling me, “Governor it’s you who was with us. I owe it to the people of Cabanatuan. It’s my obligation to serve them,” he said.

He cited that many infrastructure projects in Cabanatuan’s barangays were bankrolled by the provincial government, a fact not lost in the city government and its populace.

Umali pointed out that the provincial government maintains considerable presence in Cabanatuan, consisting of a 16-hectare old Capitol compound which caters to the needs of many Cabanatuenos.

At the same time, Umali said P125 million worth of Internal Revenue Allotment of the provincial government will go down the drain if Cabanatuan fully becomes HUC. He said the IRA of the province, instead of going to Cabanatuan, will revert back to the national treasury and will be divided equally among the provinces.

Umali also said the IRA of Cabanatuan won’t increase in case it becomes a HUC, saying it’s a gross misconception. (Jason de Asis)