Gonzales files Mexico cityhood bill
PAMPANGA 3rd District Representative Aurelio “Dong” Gonzales Jr. has filed a measure converting the municipality of Mexico in Pampanga into a component city.
The veteran legislator filed House Bill (HB) No. 1683 on the premise that Mexico, Pampanga, classified as a first-class municipality, has met all the requirements, and none of any disqualification, as provided for in Republic Act (RA) No. 7160, or the Local Government Code of 1991, as amended, to become a component city.
Under Section 450, a municipality or a cluster of barangays may be converted into a component city if it has a locally generated average annual income, as certified by the Department of Finance (DOF), of at least P100 million for the last two consecutive years based on 2000 constant prices, and if it has either of the following requisites: 1) a contiguous territory of at least 100 square kilometers, as certified by the Land Management Bureau (LMB); or 2) a population of not less than 150,000 inhabitants, as certified by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
A landlocked municipality in the coastal province of Pampanga, Mexico, is composed of 43 barangays with a land area of 117.41 square kilometers or 45.33 square miles which constitutes 5.87% of the province’s total land area.
The municipality has a locally generated annual income of P105,518,000 for Fiscal Year 2018 and P193,427,992.00 for Fiscal Year 2021, based on the certificate issued by the Bureau of Local Government Finance of the DOF.
“This legislation is a reward for the collective hard work, perseverance, and self-reliance of the citizenry of Mexico, with the able leadership of its officials, led by Mayor Teddy Tumang,” Gonzales said.
He also emphasized that such a measure will be an excellent “instrument” in pushing the municipality vision’s “to become a leading industrial and commercial city in the heart of Pampanga, inhabited by resilient and God-loving people governed by honest and efficient public servants.”
