INDEPENDENT TAGUM CITY?

Due to conflict arising from the financial aid for calamitystricken Tagumenyos, Mayor Uy is contemplating to separate Tagum City from Davao del Norte

AFTER 26 years since it officially became a city, Mayor Rey Uy is “contemplating” pushing for Tagum City to become an “independent city.”

The idea stemmed after the city had a conflict with the Provincial Government of Davao del Norte in the allocation of financial assistance to the flood-affected residents in Tagum.

Davao del Norte Vice Governor De Carlo “Oyo” Uy, the city mayor’s son, revealed that not all flood victims will be able to receive financial assistance from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) unless the provincial government would set aside its political differences.

Based on the report from the Tagum City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (CDRRMO), around 43,000 individuals were affected by the separate flooding incidents in the city caused by the shear line and the trough of the low-pressure area (LPA) early this year.

However, in the submitted data to DSWD, the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (PDRRMO) only declared around 20,000 residents were affected.

PDRRMO head Glenda Delideli, meanwhile, belied the vice governor’s statement, saying that they are still gathering new data for the Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA).

The mayor said that this issue is contributing to his idea of possibly making the city an “independent city” in order for them to have their own jurisdiction in government policies, similar to Davao City.

“Maglahi ta para di ta madiktahan sa probinsya (We will separate so that the province cannot dictate us),” he said.

He said the city is “more than qualified” to become an “independent city.”

He admitted that it is not a priority, nor he is pushing for it in Congress.

“Wala pa man ta’y initial [action]. Di man ta gusto ana… Sa karon nga samoksamok, dili nila gusto og progress, di gusto og ayuda sa tao (We still don’t have initial [action]. We don’t want that [to separate] … But with the present conflict, they don’t want progress, they don’t want aid for the people) we are now contemplating,” he added.

The mayor said this would have a huge impact to the provincial government in terms of National Tax Allotment (NTA).

“Pag muhawa ta, [mag-]independent ta, minus ang ilang population. Minus pud ang yuta... So tanan, ilang NTA mu-reduce pud na (If we separate, and be independent, their population and land area… all, even their NTA will decrease),” Uy said.

Tagum was converted from a municipality to city of Davao del Norte through Republic Act 8472 on March 7, 1998.