After 143 years of existence as a municipality, under the leadership of Mayor Santiago G. Barcelona, Jr., Escalante was now qualified to become a city. On July 24, 1998, the Sangguniang Bayan of Escalante passed Resolution No. 98-79 "requesting the Congressman Julio A. Ledesma IV of the 1st District of Negros Occidental to file a bill in Congress creating / converting the Municipality of Escalante into a new City of Escalante." Six days later, Congressman Ledesma filed House Bill No. 1514 "An act converting the Municipality of Escalante into a component city to be known as the City of Escalante." President Joseph Estrada imposed a moratorium on conversion or creation of cities by memorandum on the same year, but it doesn't affect the house bill that converts Escalante into a city.