The Road To Cityhood

Cityhood for the town of Santiago is an enduring popular progress, which Mayor Jose "Pempe" C. Miranda turned out of the earlier dream of his predecessors.

The march to cityhood has been long and tedious, yet dramatically shows that when people unite and work together for a common desire, they can achieve monumental results. During his second term in office, Mayor "Pempe" Miranda took with characteristic boldness the preparatory steps towards the realization of cityhood for the town of his birth.

In 1992, he issued Executive Order No. 92-05, which created and tasked an ad hoc committee to conduct a thorough study and submit recommendations on the conversion of Santiago into a city. The committee was headed by MLGOO Carlos L. Hernal. It was at once found out that the town's population was not yet large enough to qualify for cityhood. However, the acute legalistic mind of Fiscal Valentin Pelayo saw the possibility of cityhood as contained in the Local Government Code which provides that a municipality may be converted into a city as long as one of the two requirements - number of population and volume of revenue - is met.

Being now sure that Santiago had the qualification for cityhood, Mayor Miranda right away geared for an intelligent attempt at earning urban distinction for Santiago. On February 15, 1993, he signed Executive Order No. 93-03, which created a joint Executive-Legislative Committee on Cityhood. The fired up Mayor himself headed the committee whose members included all members of the Sangguniang Bayan, all the heads of municipal government offices, and Fiscal Pelayo.

On February 19, 1993, Santiago municipal government officials visited and toured the cities of San Jose and Cabanatuan in Nueva Ecija, San Carlos in Pangasinan, and Angeles in Pampanga. Immediately afterwards, consultations and dialogues regarding cityhood were conducted to get the people's pulse.

On March 04, 1993, a significant step towards cityhood had been taken when the Sangguniang Bayan approved Executive Resolution No. 93-29, which was subsequently endorsed by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Isabela under the leadership of Gov. Benjamin Dy and Vice Gov. Manuel Binag. In this resolution, authored by all of the members of the Sangguniang Bayan, Rep. Antonio Abaya was asked to sponsor a bill providing for the conversion of the Municipality of Santiago into a city. The Honorable Congressman obliged and House Bill No. 8817 was filed at the Lower House under his sponsorship and those of Reps. Albano, Respicio, and Dy, Jr. On November 25, 1993, the bill was discussed extensively in a public hearing conducted by the House of Representatives Committee on Local Government, chaired by Rep. Ciriaco Alfelor of Camarines Sur.

On December 17, 1993, the bill converting Santiago into an independent component city was approved by the Lower House.

On February 23, 1994, Senate Bill No. 1243, which had been sponsored jointly by Sens. Roco and Romulo, the Senate majority Floor Leader, was presented for public hearing. It was approved on March 14, 1994 after another public hearing conducted by the Senate Committee on Local Government, chaired by Sen. Sotto III.

On May 05, 1994, a historic event took place in Malacaņang Palace, Manila, upon the signing of Republic Act No. 7720 by His Excellency, President Fidel V. Ramos, creating the town of Santiago as an independent component city - the first in Region 2.

On July 06, 1994, a plebiscite ratified R.A. 7720 with positive response to cityhood.