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Cebu City, Philippines – Local government units (LGUs) that comprise Cebu's sixth district may already be sub-divided into three smaller districts if the 250,000 population requirement for the creation of a new district is to be followed.
Board Member Victor Maambong said this Monday as he plans to submit a resolution to the Provincial Board to sub-divide the sixth district.
He said having more districts in Cebu province means more representatives in Congress.
Board Member Juan Bolo, who also wanted the first district sub-divided, said the creation of additional districts will increase the province's share of the Priority Development Fund (PDAF) that may be used to develop the countryside.
Maambong said that if the resolution will be approved then this will be the Provincial Board’s stand which will be submitted to the Cebuano congressmen consolidating a proposal for a bill redistricting Cebu.
According to the 2007 population census, Cebu's sixth district has a population of 743,725.
The 6th district is made of the cities of Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu and the towns of Consolacion and Cordova.
Maambong said that Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue cities can each be one district while the third smaller district will be made of the towns of Consolacion and Cordova, Lilo-an and Olango Island.
Lilo-an town, however, is now part of the fifth district while Olango Island is part of Lapu-Lapu City.
Maambong based his proposal on population of the 6th district's towns and cities.
Mandaue has a population of 318,575 while Lapu-Lapu has 292,530 residents.
Cordova has a population of 45,066, Consolacion, 87,544 residents; Lilo-an, 64, 970 and Olango Island, 16,000.
Maambong said that even if Olango Island's population were to be deducted from the population of Lapu-Lapu City, the city would still qualify to become a lone district.
Maambong, majority floor leader and the representative of the sixth district to the Provincial Board, said that even the combined population of the municipalities from Argao to Santander in Cebu's first district may qualify to be one district while towns of Samboan and Dumanjug will qualify to be another district.
Bolo, 1st district representative to the Provincial Board, said that he also wanted to have Talisay City and Minglanilla town, which have a combined population of at least 280,000 residents, merged into one congressional district.
The first district also includes Naga City, San Fernando town, Carcar City and Sibonga town with a combined population of about 290,000 be another district.
Article VI, Section 5.3 of the Philippine Constitution says that “each congressional district shall comprise, as far as practicable, contiguous, compact and adjacent territory.”
Even cities or provinces that have a population of at least 250,000 shall have at least one representative in congress.
“Within three years following the return of the census, the Congress shall make a reapportionment of legislative districts based on the standards provided in this section,” the law says.
Meanwhile, Maambong called Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña ’s plan to make Cordova town a part of Cebu City as impractical.
He said that all the provincial voters would have to be consulted in a plebiscite if Osmeña’s proposal will be pursued.
He said his redistricting scheme is more practical because it would only involve residents in the 6th district.
He said that in his proposed redistricting scheme, Cordova need not be “physically” connected with Consolacion, Olango Island and Liloan to comprise as one district.
“As far as practicability is concerned there is a bridge that could provide them connection,” he said.
Osmeña said Monday that the people in power - the congressman or the governor - cannot dictate the people.
He said the Cordovahanons should decide whether they like his idea or not.
Osmeña he planned to build another coastal project in Cordova.
He said the coastal areas in between Cordova and Cebu are shallow and that it is possible to put another reclamation project that would be comparable to Dubai's Palm Island. /With a report from Correspondent Marian Z. Codilla
