Ecija governor: Highly urbanized city bad for progress of Cabanatuan

CABANATUAN CITY, Philippines  – Nueva Ecija Gov. Aurelio Umali yesterday registered his objection to the plan of the city government to proceed with the conversion of Cabanatuan into a highly urbanized city, saying the move would be detrimental to the growth of the city and deprive thousands of Cabanatueños of their right of suffrage and avail of badly needed basic services and scholarships being provided by the provincial government.

Umali, in a press statement, explained that Cabanatuan is better off working in tandem with the provincial government of Nueva Ecija in a proverbial “Big Brother” teamup instead of going at it alone. “As we very well know, two heads are better than one. It would be good and it would be better if the province and the city are partners in progress,” he said.

He said a more ideal scheme and which many Novo Ecijanos and Cabanatueños look up to is for the Nueva Ecija and Cabanatuan local governments to work as a team in advancing the common development goals of the province. “When it comes to delivery of basic services, wouldn’t it be better if the province and the city help each other out?,” he asked. 

Umali made his statement in the midst of reports that Mayor Julius Cesar Vergara and his allies in the Sangguniang Panglunsod are pushing hard for the HUC conversion. If the conversion is realized, the city’s voters will no longer elect their provincial governor and ordinances passed by the city council will no longer have to pass through the Sangguniang Panlalawigan for review and approval.

Umali said since 2007 when he first assumed the governorship, the provincial government has extended numerous assistance to the people of Cabanatuan. “If in the past, the provincial government was lacking in support, my administration has been very generous in providing to the city government of Cabanatuan and to its people the necessary backstopping, particularly the people in the barangays. The provincial government’s support to Cabanatuan was not only phenomenal. It was also unprecedented,” he said.

The governor said that the lack of readiness of the city government to stand on its own once it becomes HUC was amply demonstrated by the recent calamities when the provincial government came to its aid. He said that Cabanatuan is also unable to solve its monstrous garbage woes.