SC stops Jan. 25 vote to make Cabanatuan a 'highly urbanized city'

The Supreme Court has stopped the Commission on Elections from conducting a plebiscite this month for the conversion of Cabanatuan City into a highly urbanized city (HUC).

The high court granted a plea from petitioner Nueva Ecija Gov. Aurelio Umali for the issuance of a temporary restraining order against Comelec Resolution 13-1353, which sets the plebiscite on January 25, SC Public Information Office chief Theodore Te told a news briefing Tuesday.

The TRO was "effective immediately and continuing until further orders from this Court," Te said.

If Cabanatuan is elevated into an HUC – meaning it will be a politically and economically independent entity within the province – the city would not be able to vote for provincial positions, according to the Local Government Code.

Cabanatuan is the largest city in Nueva Ecija province. It had a population of 259,267 in 2007, and an annual income of P734.73 million in 2010.

According to Section 452 of the Local Government Code, a city can be given HUC status if it has a minimum population of 200,000, as certified by the National Statistics Office. The city's latest annual income should also reach at least P50 million, based on 1991 constant prices.

President Benigno Aquino III granted HUC status to Cabanatuan on July 4, 2012, subject to a required plebiscite 120 days after the proclamation date.

The Comelec previously set the plebiscite on December 1, 2012, but it was postponed to an indefinite date after the May 2013 elections “in cognizance of... violence that ensued [during] the plebiscite period for the conversion of the City of Cabanatuan.”

In its resolution in 2012, the Comelec reset the plebiscite date since “the Commission is now in the thick of preparations for the May 13, 2013 elections.”

If converted, Cabanatuan would be the third in Central Luzon to have HUC status after Angeles in Pampanga and Olongapo in Zambales. – YA, GMA News