THE House of Representatives approved on third and final reading a bill creating the seventh legislative district of Cebu, Gov. Hilario Davide III said yesterday.
House Bill 4427, authored by Cebu 2nd District Rep. Wilfredo Caminero, was endorsed by the congressional committee on local government last week and will be transmitted to the Senate for review and approval.
If signed into law by Malacañang, the province’s second district that consists of 15 towns and 284 barangays will be split into two congressional districts.
The west coast towns of Dumanjug, Ronda, Alcantara, Moalboal, Badian, Alegria, Malabuyoc, and Ginatilan will comprise the proposed seventh Cebu legislative district.
The towns of Dalaguete, Alcoy, Boljoon, Oslob, Santander, Samboan and Davide’s hometown, Argao, will remain in the second district.
Too big
Davide said the split will benefit constituents in the current second district since they will receive more representation in both the House of Representatives and the Provincial Board (PB).
With fewer towns in the district, Davide said the representatives will be able to prioritize the lobbying of projects through national agencies now that the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) is abolished.
“We are happy with that because it’s too big a district. The change will benefit Cebu,” he said.
“The congressman now will have fewer towns to attend to and can deliver more services.”
Caminero said he was having difficulty attending to the needs of his district due to its size which covers almost a third of the province’s total land area.
Representation
As of May 2010 census, the district has a population of 434,452 or twice the number required by law for the creation of a new legislative district.
It was Caminero’s predecessor, former 2nd District Rep. Pablo Garcia who first filed a bill seeking the split in 2008.
Cebu is the largest province in terms of congressional representation. Cebu alone has six representatives, while Cebu City has two and Lapu-Lapu City has one.
The creation of a new Cebu congressional district will take effect in the 2016 national and local elections.
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