Non-voting chartered city to voting chartered city: - Prior to 1980, all cities were just considered chartered cities, without any official category differentiating them aside from income levels. The city of Cabanatuan originally was excluded from electing and being elected into positions in the provincial government of Nueva Ecija until its city charter (Republic Act No. 526)[17 - was amended by Republic Act No. 1445 in 1956, enabling it to once more vote for provincial officials.[18 - In 1964, when Cebu City's old charter (Commonwealth Act No. 58)[19 - was repealed and replaced with Republic Act No. 3857, its residents once more became eligible to vote for provincial officials.[20 - However, when the city was among the first few to be classified as highly urbanized in 1980, it effectively became independent from the province of Cebu and its inhabitants have since remained ineligible to participate in the election of provincial officials.