Bulacan officials back SJDM’s HUC bid

MALOLOS CITY—In a rare display of unity,  all the city and municipal mayors of Bulacan have banded together over the weekend to throw their all-out support for the bid of San Jose Del Monte City Mayor Arthur Robes to achieve “Highly Urbanized City” status.

Similar to the cityhood process, the ratification of SJDM’s HUC status will be submitted to the voting population of the city in a scheduled Plebiscite on October 30, simultaneous with the Barangay and SK elections.

City residents can either vote “YES” to approve its HUC status or reject it.

Once approved, SJDM will become an independent city of Bulacan and thereafter its voters will no longer vote for the governor, vice governor and board members (bokal) of the province in future elections.

However, once SJDM become a HUC, it will still be a part of the province of Bulacan, City Mayor Arthur Robes said.

Spearheading the drive is Malolos City Mayor Christian Natividad who hosted the Mayors League of Bulacan monthly meeting last Friday at the Malolos City Hall.

“As mayor of the capital and historic city, I am taking the role as a big brother of my fellow mayors to support all step towards the autonomy of every municipality and city in Bulacan to fast-track local development initiatives in their area of responsibilities,” Natividad said.

The Malolos mayor said he and the 22 other mayors of Bulacan fully support SJDM’s bid achieve an HUC status being the first municipality in the province to become a city in September 10, 2000 thru Republic Act 8797.

Malolos became the 2nd city of Bulacan on October 8, 2001 thru Republic Act No. 8754. Followed by the City Meycauayan in December 10, 2006 thru RA 9356.  And very recently, Baliwag became the fourth city of Bulacan thru RA 11929 after its ratification in a plebiscite on Dec. 18, 2022.

Then President Rodrigo Duterte proclaimed the charter of San Jose del Monte as a ‘highly-urbanized city’ on Dec. 4, 2020 thru Proclamation No. 1057 subject to the ratification that will be held on Oct. 30.

“I am very honored to announce that President Rodrigo Duterte has declared our beloved city a highly-urbanized city,” Rep. Rida Robes said during its approval.  “We have long waited