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| Photo Courtesy || Ken Carino |
Cordillera - The municipality of Itogon will soon become a city in Benguet if the House of Representative will approve a bill that aims to convert the town into a city.
Benguet Congressman Eric Go Yap is planning to file a bill that will make Itogon, Benguet into a city.
The lawmaker believed that Itogon can pass the main requirements needed in order for it to become a city unlike La Trinidad where it has a problem with land area.
"Unang-una, wala tayong problema sa land area, pagdating naman po sa income kaya naman po yan, at sa population sa tingin ko achievable po yan," Yap said in a media interview.
He mentioned that he had file a bill converting La Trinidad into a city during the 18th Congress but the town missed the minimum requirement of 100,000 square kilometers land area.
“Ang naging problema ko lang po sa La Trinidad nung fi-nile natin to nung 18th Congress may problema lang sa lupa. Siyempre po pagdating po sa lupa, mahirap po madagdagan sa lupa unless may magbigay na katabing munisipyo,” Yap clarified.
Itogon is a 1st class municipality and its the largest in land area in the province of Benguet. It has a population of 61,498 people, according to the 2020 census.
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, the municipality has a land area of 449.73 square kilometres (173.64 sq mi) [15] constituting 16.24% of the 2,769.08-square-kilometre- (1,069.15 sq mi) total area of Benguet.
Itogon is 17 kilometres (11 mi) from Baguio, 22 kilometres (14 mi) from La Trinidad, and 267 kilometres (166 mi) from Manila.
