CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – What Mayor Teddy Tumang promised in his election
campaign, 3 rd District Rep. Aurelio “Dong” Gonzales, Jr. is poised to deliver – the
City of Mexico. Assuming it shall pass the tedious legislative processes the
transformation from municipality entails.
On July 11, Gonzales filed House Bill 1683 – Converting the Municipality of Mexico
in the Province of Pampanga into a Component City to be known as Mexico City –
saying the municipality has met all the basic requirements on income, population
and land area to become a city.
Based on the certificate issued by the Bureau of Local Government Finance of the
Department of Finance, Mexico’s annual income from the years 2017 to 2021
exceeded the P100 million yearly income threshold required of a candidate for
cityhood.
The Philippine Statistics Authority certified the town to have 173,403 registered
inhabitants as of January 18, 2020. The minimum population requirement for a
city is 150,000 individuals.
Mexico’s land area of 119.9438 square kilometers or 11,994.38 hectares based on
the new updated and approved Comprehensive Land Use Plan for the period
2019-2026, also surpassed the 100-square-kilometer criterion.
“Mexico, classified as a first class municipality has met all the requirements, and
none of any disqualification as provided for in the Local Government Code to
become a component city,” Gonzales said in his bill’s explanatory note.
Mexico’s cityhood “is a reward for the hard work, perseverance, and self-reliance
of its citizenry through their elected and capable local officials and able leadership
of Mayor Tumang,” enthused the congressman who is a native of Barangay Anao,
Mexico.
If passed into law and approval in a consequent referendum, Mexico City will be
Pampanga’s third component city, after the City of San Fernando and Mabalacat
City. Angeles City is a highly-urbanized city with a charter of its own.
Gonzales’ Mexico cityhood bill came in the wake of his earlier bill that proposed
for amendments in the laws covering the term limits of the Philippine president
down to the local level.
