Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

Situational Analysis

Urbanization is inevitable. Designing more compact, higher-density cities is a key

to improving the well-being of the world's burgeoning urban population (UN, 2014). Half

of the world’s population now lives in cities and projections are that this figure will

increase to two thirds by 2030. The shift to urban dominance is irreversible (Cities

Alliance, 2014).

The growing number of cities in the world can be attributed to many reasons.

According to Lakeside City Alliances (2014), the benefits of cityhood are: first,

government closer to people and more responsive to their needs; second, more control

over land use (zoning) and development to decide on things like new subdivisions,

teardowns, construction, apartments, strips malls and other uses; third, mechanism to

revitalize residential and commercial area; fourth, tax equity; fifth, improved community

identity; and sixth, improved quality of life. Moreover, Goldfield (2013) opined that

economic progress is the engine of cityhood. Without railroads, factories, and steamers

the other measures of cityhood could not evolve.

 Cloas (2014) affirmed that too many cities are characterized by urban sprawl that

make it harder for people to get around and get access to basic services, especially in vast

slums where the poor live far away from their jobs, medical services and food stores. A

municipality, city, or community starts the process of becoming healthy when its political

leadership, its local organizations, and its citizens commit continuously and progressively

in working towards improving quality of life. This endeavour strengthens an alliance

between local authorities, grassroots organizations, public institutions, and the private

sector (Organización Panamericana de Salud, 2005 as cited by Arteaga, et. al., 2008). It

becomes healthier if municipalities are merged, consolidated or amalgamated. (Kanclerz,

J., 2011).

According to Kersting and Vetter (2003) as cited by De Ceuninck, et. al., (2010),

all reforms like municipal merging come down to two fundamental principles: an

improvement in local democracy and an improvement in local efficiency. Local political

or administrative reforms are not placed on the political agenda out of the blue. They

arise in a certain political, economic, and social contexts.

Cityhood is a sign of progress. It signifies advancement from a mere municipality

to a booming political subdivision of the State. Pacoy and Balais (2005) opined that cities

are said to be the driving force in social and economic development. This is tantamount

to saying that the achievement of the desired level of development eventually follows

after one has gained the cityhood status. In the pursuit of achieving development

objectives in the area of local governance, various changes in local government structure
has been effected. Among these changes in local government structure have been pursued

include the merging of towns to constitute a city, the division of a big metropolis into

smaller cities, and the conversion of towns and municipalities into cities.

In the Philippines, some of the first towns which sought the conversion to

cityhood are the municipalities in Metro Manila. Among these towns are Mandaluyong,

Pasig, Marikina, Parañaque, and Makati. As stipulated in Republic Act 7160 or the Local

Government Code of 1991 popularly known as the Code, the power of creating and

converting Local Government Units (LGU) is bestowed in the Congress of the

Philippines. An LGU unit may be created, divided, merged, and abolished by law enacted

by Congress in the case of a province, city, municipality, or any other political

subdivision.

Along with barangay, municipality and province, city is an LGU in the

Philippines. All Philippine cities are chartered cities, whose existence as corporate and

administrative entities is governed by their own specific municipal charters in addition to

the Code, which specifies their administrative structure and powers. As of September

2012, there are 143 cities (National Statistical Coordinating Board, 2013).

In more particular cases, there are however bills filed in 2013 which are nearing

to be junked. First is the case of the proposed cityhood of Narvacan, Ilocos Sur which

still has to fulfil the income requirement. At present, the town is classified as second class
municipality (Flores, 2014). Likewise, the city charter bill of Baler, Aurora is expected to

be junked because of income requirement. However, Senator Juan Eduardo Angara is

optimistic that such lacking will be remedied by a pending bill giving automatic cityhood

to capitals of provinces without cities by freeing the capital towns of provinces from the

income needs of the cityhood (Gonzales, 2014). Lastly, the bill for the conversion of

municipality of Kalibo, Aklan to city maybe dropped due to lacking in the required

standards for cityhood in terms of population and land area even if it has more than

qualified in terms of annual income (Indelible, 2014).

Motivation to most legislators in filing a bill seeking for conversion of a

municipality into a component city is the empowerment of cities to deal with local issues.

Regular municipalities now share many of the same powers and responsibilities as

chartered cities, but its citizens and/or leaders may feel that it might be to their best

interest to get a larger share of Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) and acquire additional

powers by becoming a city, especially if the population and local economy has grown

enough. On the other hand, due to the higher property taxes that would be imposed after

cityhood, many citizens have become wary of their town's conversion into a city, even if

the municipality had already achieved a high degree of urbanization and has an annual

income that already exceeds that of many lower-income cities (Guttierez, 2013).

Municipalities aspire for cityhood mainly for the effectual changes in their fiscal

status. According to Capuno (2013),1 there seems to be an inequity in the distribution of

the IRA, the country’s most important fiscal transfer program, vis-à-vis to the burden of

the devolved functions of LGUs.

Aside from the fiscal factor, political payoffs have also motivated the creation of

new cities. Because recent court decisions have defined a city that converted from a

municipality to be essentially a different LGU from the latter, municipalities with mayors

facing term limit appear to be more likely to convert to cities. Moreover, mayors who

oversaw the city conversion are likely to be succeeded by another member of the same

political clan, which is why they spend their time, effort and political capital to advocate

for cityhood (Capuno, 2013).

Concerns have been raised that with the continuous increase in the number of city

conversions, the country will eventually be full of cities and without municipalities. This

will make the delivery of essential services less efficient given the number of functions

devolved to municipalities that will be left to the care of only the barangays. There is also

an apprehension that if the conversion was politically-motivated, it is likely entrenched

with vested interests and will encourage more rent-seeking.

The Code classifies cities into three categories: the highly urbanized cities, the

independent component cities and the component cities. In the case of the Province of La

Union, there is only one component city, the City of San Fernando known as the “City of

Health and Wellness of Northern Luzon” and once called as the “Botanical Garden City

of the North”. It was chartered into a component city by virtue Republic Act No. 8509,
signed into law on February 13, 1998 by Fidel V. Ramos and ratified on March 20, 1998

through plebiscite.

"Tattan Naguilian", "Tattan" an Ilocano (dialect) word denotes "Now", in English

translation "Now Naguilian" and now is the time for all Naguilianons to act for true

prosperity, unity, peace & order, environmental awareness and among other aspect

towards a progressive town and eventually into cityhood. The local chief executive is

confident that the conversion of Municipality of Naguilian into a city will be realized

because of the positive economic and infrastructure developments in the town. The

mayor’s priority programs are focused on the creation of a new business district,

infrastructure, tourism, agriculture, health, disaster preparedness, environment and

sanitation.

The Municipality of Naguilian, is a first class municipality in the province of La

Union, Philippines. According to the 2015 Philippine Statistics Authority survey, it has

54,221 people. Although the municipality of Naguilian did not reach the minimum

requirement of number of inhabitants, the municipality of Naguilian reached the

minimum requirement of Annual income. Naguilian’s actual annual income as of 2016

is Php 198,308,345.50 and Php 175,483,104.21 as of 2018. Given this scenario, the

mayor concluded that more business investors are coming in to generate employment.

“We are now ready to become a city,” he said. In terms of Land area, 104.60 sq. km2 is

the total land area of the Municipality.

 At present, Naguilian hosts a hospital, a newly-opened mall, some National

Government Agency offices like LTOa nd DPWH, has its own water district, Basi as a

local product, silver industry, and a thriving town center. Road to Caba, Aringay, Bagulin

have already been completed, and ongoing are those leading to San Fernando City, tuba

in Benguet and to the town’s industrial tourist spots. Future developments are being

planned around the new mall compound for the centralized transport terminal, more

government offices, more known food establishments, and some tourism facilities.

Additional school buildings are expected to rise in different areas including the

construction of Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University (DMMMSU) East-La

Union Campus. If approved by NEDA, the TPLEx extension to San Juan, La Union will

soon have its interchange in this town. This will further increase the potentials of the

town for more vibrant trade and commerce.

Timeliness of the issue stirred the researchers to conduct this case study. Aside

from the fact that these are the well-timed themes wanting to explore in the study of local

government, it is hoped to generate findings that would in turn become instrument by

policymakers or other entities as basis for future reference.

Framework of the Study

 This study is anchored on theory of governance by Stoker (1998) which draws

propositions to frame understanding about governing governance. He mentioned that

governance is an institutions and actors from within and beyond government. It identifies

the blurring of boundaries and responsibilities for tackling social and economic issues. It

identifies the power dependence involved in the relationships between institutions

involved in collective action. It is about autonomous self-governing networks of actors

and recognizes the capacity to get things done which does not rest on the power of

government to command or use its authority.

This supports the study O’Toole (2000) as cited by Ewalt (2001) that governance

theory highlights the multivariate character of policy, considers the design and operation

of policy, considers the design and operation of policy structures and actions, and focuses

on the “multi-layered structural context of rule-governed understandings, along with the

role of multiple social actors in arrays of negotiation, implementation, and service

delivery. Addressing governance requires attending to social partners and ideas about

how to concert action among them.

Likewise, the transposition of neoclassical economic theory of humans as rational

utility maximizing individuals to governments implies that self-interests actuate

economic expansion. Governments possess monopoly of legitimate coercive power of the

institutional capacity to make decisions and enforce them within a geographical territory

(Hamilton et al., 2004; Norris 2001; Stoker 1998). As such, due to this political and

institutional capacity, administrators are able to facilitate capital accumulation through

urban policy; and city-country consolidation implies agreeing to a set of urban economic
policies (cited by Odogba, 2009). Legal framework also supports the capacity to merge

municipalities into a component city through the Code which states that the creation of a

component city serves primarily as a general purpose for the government through

coordination and delivery of basic, regular and direct services and effective governance

of the inhabitants within its territorial jurisdiction. It may be created, divided, merged or

abolished, or its boundary substantially altered only by an act of Congress subject to the

criteria provided in the Code. A municipal corporation can only exist if it has legal

creation or incorporation, corporate name, inhabitants and territory. Moreover, RA 9009

or the Cityhood Law increases the income requirement for cityhood from P20 million to

P100 million in Section 450 of the Code.

 INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT

I. Documentary
Analysis on the
I. Profile of respondents profile of
respondents.
a. age
b. gender
c. civil status II. Analysis and
d. highest educational interpretation on the
attainment the compliance of the
e. religious affiliation Municipality of
f. sources of income Naguilian to the Action Plan for the
statutory
requirements for the Local Government
II. The compliance of the conversion into a Unit of Naguilian,
Municipality of Naguilian to the component City
under the LGC in
La Union
statutory requirements for the
conversion into a component City terms of:
under the LGC in terms of:
a. Land area
a. Land area b. Population
b. Population c. Annual Income
c. Annual Income
III. Interview on the
III. Views of the residents,
a. Views of the residents,
barangay and municipal officials
barangay and municipal
on the cityhood of the
officials on the cityhood of the
Municipality of Naguilian in
Municipality of Naguilian in
terms of advantages and
disadvantages. terms of advantages and
disadvantages.
IV. The action already undertaken
by the Municipality of Naguilian b. The action already
towards its cityhood. undertaken by the
Municipality of Naguilian
towards its cityhood.

Feedback

Figure 1. Paradigm of the Study

Statement of the Problem

The research aims to determine the readiness of Naguilian, La Union to be a city.

Specifically, it aims to answer the following research questions:

1. What is the profile of the respondents in terms of:

a) age;

b) gender;

c) civil status;

d) highest educational attainment;

e) religious affiliation;

f) sources of income?

2. What is the status of Naguilian, La Union in the compliance to the statutory

requirements for the conversion in to a component City under the Local government

Code in terms of:

a. Land area;

b. Population;

c. Annual Income?

3. What are the views of the residents, barangay and municipal officials on the cityhood

of the Municipality of Naguilian in terms of advantages and disadvantages?

4. What are the actions already undertaken by the Municipality of Naguilian towards its

cityhood?
5. What action plan can be recommended to the Local Government Unit of Naguilian to

its cityhood?
Definition of Terms
 Chapter 2

METHODOLOGY

Research Design
The study will utilize the descriptive survey, descriptive-evaluative, and

qualitative research design. Descriptive research describes and interprets “what it is”. The

descriptive method is basically a technique of qualitative as well as quantitative

description of general characteristics of the group. The descriptive survey method, as

defined by Dr. Y.P. Aggarwal, is a method of research concerning with the present

phenomena, in terms of conditions, practices, beliefs, processes, relationships, or trends.

It is a method devoted to the gathering of information about prevailing conditions or

situations for the purpose of descriptive and interpretation. This research method includes

proper analysis, interpretation, comparisons, and identification of trends and relationships

(Salaria, 2012). The descriptive - survey, aims to address the research problems: 1) What

is the profile of the respondents in terms of: a. age, b. gender, c. civil status, d. highest

educational attainment, e. religious affiliation f. sources of income; 2.) What is the status

of Naguilian, La Union in the compliance to the statutory requirements for the conversion

in to a component City under the LGC in terms to be a city along: a. land area, b.

population c. annual income; 3.) What are the views of the residents, barangay and

municipal officials on the cityhood of the Municipality of Naguilian in terms of

advantages and disadvantages? 4.) What are the actions already undertaken by the

Municipality of Naguilian towards its cityhood?

 According to Hubbard (2017), descriptive-evaluative design means the collection

of data describing some phenomenon that is may or may not be quantifiable such as

close-ended scales, open-ended survey questions, observations and interviews. The

purpose of the research is to evaluate the readiness of the Municipality of Naguilian to its

cityhood.

For the purpose of this study, a qualitative research design is also chosen. The

main goal of qualitative research is to understand the situation that is being investigated

from the participant’s perspective rather than the researcher’s perspective. This refers as

insider’s perspective (Hancock and Algozzine, 2011). The qualitative methods will be

used in this study is primarily phenomenological in nature, whereby human ‘lived

experience’ is examined, providing a deeper understanding of a particular way of life and

how it is experienced by those being studied (Creswell, 2011). Hence this study sets out

to explore the views of respondents on the cityhood of the Municipality of Naguilian in

terms of advantages and disadvantages.

Sources of Data

This study will be conducted in the Municipality of Naguilian, La Union. The

respondents will be the residents, barangay and municipal officials in the Municipality.

Table 1. Number of Respondents

Attribute N N
Residents of Naguilian 100 -
Barangay Official 50
Municipal Official 20 -

Total 726 -
 The researchers will used random sampling in selecting the respondents and it

will be assumed that the answers of these respondents to the survey questionnaires will

represent whole population of Naguilian, La Union.

Instrumentation and Data Collection

The researcher will use survey through questionnaires, interview guide questions

and documentary analysis as their primary data gathering tools.

The researcher will use a documentary analysis to look into the information about

the profile of the respondents. The content of the profile where the members drawn

information along age, gender, civil status, highest educational attainment, religious

affiliation, and sources of income.

To answer the problem number 2 regarding the facts on the land area, population

and income data will be gathered from the Treasurer’s Office and Planning and

Development Office.

For problems number 3 and 4 researchers will be using semi-structured

interview. An interview guide question will be utilized to gather the needed information.

To establish the validity of the instrument, the following procedures will be

followed: a. the draft of the questionnaire will be presented to the adviser and the member

of panel evaluators for critiquing; b. suggestions will be incorporated and final draft will

be presented to the adviser for further scrutiny. c. experts from Municipality of Naguilian

will be asked to evaluate the content; e. validity of this research instrument.

The results of this study will be the basis for the development of action plan for

the Local Government Unit of Naguilian La Union.

Analysis of Data

Frequency counts and percentages will be used to present the profile of the

respondents. Anecdotal narrative will be used to categorize the actual observation of the

respondents on the specific problem of the study.

For problem number 2,3 and 4 the researcher will conduct interviews in a

conversational manner in the language/s most comfortably spoken by the interviewee, in

English, Filipino and Iloko. The researchers will use audio recording devices for the

documentation of interviews. With the consent of the respondents, pictures of the

interviews will also be taken. The researchers will use the interview guide questions to

make the interview flow as smooth and formal as possible. The use of a recording device

ensured accuracy of the data for analysis and allowed freedom for the researcher to focus

on the interview (Biggam 2009).