Castaneda elated by NSO’s remarks of cityhood

By Mortz C. Ortigoza LINGAYEN – Mayor Ernesto Castaneda of this capital town welcomed the declaration of the National Statistics Office (NSO) in Pangasinan that this municipality will hit the 100 thousand population mark that could qualify her for cityhood. “Tataas ang IRA or Internal Revenue Allotment at malalaking proyekto ang magagampanan para sa kabutihan ng lahat at ngayong taon ay P130 million ang annual income ng Lingayen, Pangasinan,” he said. An employee of the municipality here who asked for anonymity said that in case this town become a city, it will increase the salaries of the public workers of the municipal hall.”Tataas na ang sueldo namin, magiging maganda sa pamilya namin at least madadagdagan na ang IRA, malaking tulong talaga at maganda sa pamilya namin”. Dante Pescador, the chief of the NSO in Pangasinan, said on a TV interview that from the more than 90 thousand population, this town will see an additional more than seven thousand population in the next year’s census that will qualify it to the 100 thousand population requirement for a city. According to the amended requisites for city hood provided in the Local Government Code of 1991 a town should meet the following: A locally generated income of at least PHP100 million (based on constant prices in the year 2000) for the last two consecutive years, as certified by the Department of Finance,and; A population of 150,000 or more, as certified by the National Statistics Office or a contiguous territory of 100 square kilometers, as certified by the Land Management Bureau , with contiguity not being a requisite for areas that are on two or more islands. Another source here who asked anonymity said that only two of the requirements would be enough to make this town a city. Unlike the 1, 491 municipalities that depend from the share they derived from the IRA, a new city’s share is much bigger since the IRA is allotted to 144 cities only.