I am writing this column while fresh back from a company-sponsored overnight vacation in San Juan, Batangas, one of the fastest-growing municipalities on the east side of that province.
Although still a small bucolic town by ordinary standards (it’s still a town where most businesses close after dark), it has become a popular haunt for Metro Manila residents who find it attractive to build their "home away from home" in subdivisions along its seashore, particularly in the Laiya beach area.
As we were passing through its new town hall (situated on the road to Laiya beach), one of our news editors who always had to go outside for OpinYon's business development side marveled at the sight of the large, sprawling complex.
"Parang city hall ang dating!" was how she put it - and the new San Juan Municipal Building does look like it belongs to a large city rather than a 1st-class municipality.
That started me thinking: we've all measured the progress of a town or a municipality by the presence of large fast-food, grocery and convenience store chains.
But I think we’d also take a look at how a city or a town progress by the looks of the one building that serves as the core of its local government: the city or municipal hall.
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In Spanish colonial times, it is the so-called “municipio” or “gobernadorcillo” where all power of the State emanates.
And with the town hall usually located at the “poblacion” or downtown area right next or in front of churches, ordinary Filipinos are always reminded of the dual power of church and state during those times.
However, as towns expand and become cities, many of these old “gobernadorcillos” have become too small or too obsolete to continue to cater to the growing needs of their constituents.
Not only that, as Laguna’s first and second districts have become industrial, commercial, and residential powerhouses, LGUs not only have the money to spare – and that implicit pressure to show off to investors and residents alike that they are no longer “probinsyanos” (a stereotype which, you know, has become restricted to the 3rd and 4th districts of Laguna as the areas near Metro Manila become swallowed up with the “megalopolis” that is the National Capital Region.)
Take a look at Laguna’s first and second districts, whose LGUs deemed it necessary, prudent and convenient to move their city halls away from the poblacion area (except Santa Rosa City) and build multi-storey edifices that won’t look out of place in Metro Manila.
Compare that with the town halls in some towns in Laguna’s 4th district, where they are smaller, less pretentious, and less recognizable (the town hall in Famy, for instance, looks more like a barangay hall of a large barangay in Metro Manila). Of course, some LGUs, like Pakil and Santa Maria, have also constructed new town halls that reflect the growing stature of their towns.
To me, a city or town hall is more than just a building. It’s a reflection of how the LGU effectively delivers its services and provide the competent and responsible governance that their constituents have expected from them.
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