Mayor bares plans to update City Charter

ILIGAN CITY – Mayor Frederick Siao bared plans to establish a multisectoral consultative committee to draft an updated Charter of the City of Iligan, saying the current Charter became law in 1950.

Mayor Frederick Siao

Siao said he will seek the support of lawmakers both in the House of Representatives and the Senate, adding the Charter will have a new vision and roadmap that significantly determine the resources and mandates “we need to become one of the major metropolitan, cosmopolitan, and balanced growth cities of the Philippines.” 

Iligan City has recently celebrated its 73^rd Charter Day. “We have come a long way, and we still have much to accomplish still as a city,” Siao said, adding he will soon issue an executive order to start the consultation. He said the amended Charter will include a visioning exercise during which “we can map out where we want to go, why we will do it, and the broad strokes of how to attain our shared vision for our beloved City.”  

The mayor said the baseline of the new Charter will be the Local Government Code, but there will also be some improvements because that law was created 32 years ago. “The new Charter based on the collective vision of the future by different sectors of Iligan City is what we need for the rest of the 21st Century. Through its new Charter, the City will definitely conform to the present time and prospectively head for a better future for all Iliganons,” he said. 

“We are one of the fastest-growing cities in the country in terms of population and economy. We are also at the forefront of Mindanao progress as a City of Technology, culture, peace and sustainable growth. Someday, hopefully, in the near future, we can celebrate our Charter Day as a special non-working holiday. For that to happen, we will ask friends in Congress to file the needed bill,” the mayor added.  

The name “Iligan” is derived from the Higaonon word “ilijan,” which translates as the “fortress of defense” and is rooted in its long history of foreign rulers under the Spanish, American, and Japanese. (Asangan Madale)