Taytay, Rizal Vice Mayor Sophia “Pia” Cabral said on Wednesday the local government is considering the creation of additional barangays to ensure better delivery of basic services to the residents.

“For you to become a barangay captain in Taytay, it’s almost like becoming a mayor because of the large voting population. And the IRA (Internal Revenue Allotment) is significant,” Cabral said in an interview on DAILY TRIBUNE’s online show Straight Talk.

According to her, Taytay has a voting population of 170,000 to 180,000. Currently, Taytay has only five barangays, while its total population is around 300,000.

“Our barangays are very large, so recently there have been requests to create more barangays because some areas cannot be attended to due to the vast area,” Cabral explained.

Cabral said the municipal council has submitted a resolution to the provincial government for the creation of more barangays.

“We have this resolution endorsing it to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan because they should be the ones to create the ordinance requesting Congress and the Senate to declare these barangays,” she added.

Before being elected vice mayor, Cabral served as Sangguniang Kabataan chairperson and later as a municipal councilor, where she crafted ordinances focused on education, health and sports, among others.

“During my first term as councilor, we amended the ordinances on the scholarship program,” Cabral said.

“Before, when you said scholar, it was only for the academically gifted. What we did was add financial assistance, not just for the bright students. So, I amended that ordinance and now they can be scholars of the town until they graduate. The local government supports their financial needs for their studies,” the vice mayor said.

Cabral also shared that Taytay now has a sports complex built on 13 hectares that was once a dump site.

“Before the end of my term as councilor, I had the opportunity to work closely with President Duterte, and there was this 13-hectare area in Taytay that used to be a dump site. I proposed a resolution to convert it into a sports complex,” she said.

The first phase of the sports complex has been completed with a track and field oval.

“Before, during the Palarong Panlalawigan, we had to borrow the Marikina Sports Complex as a venue for the opening,” she said.

Cabral said the sports complex was funded by the national government.

“It is a national government project that we brought directly to Taytay without using any funds from the local government. So, it was a blessing for us,” she said.

“For the next phase, hopefully, we will build a coliseum for indoor sports such as basketball,” she added.

Taytay is known as the garment capital of the Philippines.

Cabral said many investors, including Chinese, have been putting up textile warehouses in the town.

“So when people ask for RTW (ready-to-wear) or fabric, it’s all from Taytay,” she said.

Cabral said the town’s tiangge (market) business was thriving before the pandemic.

“Before the pandemic, the tiangge was really booming. With the challenges now, every Christmas season there are vendors selling ukay-ukay (used clothes), and that’s a major competitor to the local textile industry,” she said.

“It’s not allowed, but it depends on the local chief executive on how to implement this because sometimes they can’t control people who suddenly arrive to sell,” she added.

Cabral said the municipal council has passed resolutions and crafted ordinances to support and protect the local textile industry.

“Right now, we have pending ordinances that we need to pass. The challenge now is that instead of going to Taytay, some people prefer to buy from online sellers,” she said.

“We encourage them to go to Taytay to support other businesses there, such as restaurants and others,” she added.