Davide backs bill to split up 2nd district
CEBU Gov. Hilario Davide III said he strongly supports the proposal of 2nd district Rep. Wilfredo Caminero to split his district into two separate congressional districts.
According to Davide, the Cebu provincial government is in favor of the bill filed since the second district which covers 15 towns is “too big”.
He said the move will benefit the people since the division will mean more representation in both the House of Representatives and the Provincial Board (PB).
With the number of towns in the district, he said the representatives will be unable to prioritize all of them when lobbying for projects through national agencies, now that the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) is abolished.
“I am in favor of that. I think he already filed the bill because that was way back in the time of congressman (Pablo) Garcia. Here in the province, our position regarding that especially with the board members, is that we are in favor because the district is too big – with 15 towns,” he told reporters yesterday.
Last week, Caminero filed House Bill 3149 which seeks to create the seventh legislative district of Cebu.
Under the proposal, the municipalities of Dumanjug, Ronda, Alcantara, Moalboal, Badian, Alegria, Malabuyoc and Ginatilan will be part of the new district while the towns of Argao, Dalaguete, Alcoy, Boljoon, Oslob, Santander and Samboan will remain in the second district.
More representation
Davide is in favor of further dividing the province into nine from the present six districts.
“If you ask me, I think it would even be better if the province had nine districts. The more representation and less cost for aspiring congressmen to run in these districts because they don’t need to go around so much during elections,” he said.
According to Caminero, the split is necessary since it will yield a bigger share of national resources for the towns.
It was his predecessor, former 2nd District Rep. Pablo Garcia who first filed a bill in 2008 seeking to divide the province’s largest congressional district.
As of the present, the province of Cebu has six congressional districts with seven cities and 44 municipalities.
Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Cebudailynews. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.
