Isabela’s capital town renews bid for cityhood

ILAGAN, Isabela — Almost eight years after the residents of this capital town rejected cityhood, city officials are making another bid, hoping to become the fourth city in Cagayan Valley.

This time, Mayor Delfinito Albano, with the support of the private sector, is optimistic that Ilagan, a major rice and corn-producing town also known for what it touts as the world’s biggest butaka (armchair), would become a city before the year ends or in early 2007.

"I feel that majority, if not an overwhelming number of our constituents, now want our town to become a city, which is a very different mood (compared to) eight years ago when majority of our residents rejected the move," Albano said.

In a plebiscite in 1997, the cityhood proponents were out-voted by majority of the townsfolk, who, according to Albano, feared drastic increases in the prices of prime commodities should their hometown become a city.

"Our constituents were not well informed then about the social and economic privileges and benefits a city could gain," said Albano, younger brother of former congressman, now Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) chairman Rodolfo Albano.

The older Albano authored the first cityhood measure during his stint in the Lower House.

Last year, the municipal government, with the endorsement of the four Isabela congressmen, led by the ERC chairman’s son, Rep. Rodito Albano, submitted an amended resolution to revive the town’s cityhood bid.

Mayor Albano said the resolution is now pending with the Senate committee on local government and the Department of Justice due to some "legal issues."

Barring any legal hitches or opposition to the amended resolution, Albano hopes that the Senate committee could schedule a plebiscite this year.

He said Ilagan is now more than qualified to become a city in terms of annual income, population and land area.

Composed of 92 barangays, Ilagan, also dubbed as the "Furniture Capital of Cagayan Valley," is one of the biggest municipalities in Luzon.

Should it succeed in its second cityhood bid, it will become the country’s second biggest city in terms of land area and the fourth city in Cagayan Valley (the others are Santiago and Cauayan, both in Isabela, and Tuguegarao in Cagayan).

Three years ago, Ilagan, located about 400 kilometers north of Manila, gained prominence in the country’s tourism and agricultural map when it unveiled what it considers the world’s biggest armchair, which is prominently displayed at the town plaza.