Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
pg. 1
Sulong Na
This book has established that the goal of making
Dasmarias a city was not a spontaneous
undertaking. In as early as 1989, officials of the
municipality led by Mayor Recto Cantimbuhan made
a conscious effort, spearheaded by Vice-Mayor Dino
Macayan and his committee, to make the town
eligible for cityhood. Back then they already knew
that the rate of growth and progress would require
the resources and structures that only cityhood could
provide. We do not know their individual intentions
and this book did not delve into that, but, when
Dasmarias became eligible in 1995, they spared no
time and efforts to make the goal a reality. Of course
they failed to achieve the towns collective dream of
cityhood. There is, however, no denying that these
town officials were the ones who initiated the process
of cityhood. To them rightfully belongs the distinction
of being the first to chart the course towards that
direction.
High in the list of the Dasmarineos who made
the cityhood dream a reality is Congressman Elpidio
Pidi Barzaga. Initially against it, Congressman
Barzaga more than made up for his early opposition
when he relentlessly pushed for the project until its
successful completion. He made two attempts for
cityhood when he was the Municipal Mayor and made
a third one when he was Congressman.
Whether one is a supporter or a critic, there is no
arguing to the fact that it took someone of his caliber
and dedication to get the job done. Congressman
Dragon made the attempt but his lack of support in
the Senate doomed the project. The fact that he was
at odds with Senator Ernesto Maceda who was then
the influential Senate President, aggravated the
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