Saturday, June 30, 2007 15 House seats for Cebu? Pablo bares plan
REP. Pablo Garcia (Cebu, 2nd district) will meet with other Cebuano lawmakers to discuss what he sees as the need for more districts in Cebu.
In the midst of his campaign to become House Speaker, Garcia told reporters that Cebu Province is already entitled to at least 12 representatives while Cebu City has to have at least three.
“We can be a powerful bloc in Congress,” the former three-term Cebu governor said.
Today, Cebu has eight districts: two in Cebu City and six in the province.
If all the lawmakers in Cebu can agree on this matter, Garcia will file a bill on this make it one of his priorities when his term starts at midday today.
For a district to be created, the place must have a population of 250,000. The creation of legislative districts has no land area or income requirement.
Rep. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz (Cebu Province, 6th district) has already expressed her support for redistricting.
When interviewed after her proclamation last month, she said she wants Mandaue City and Consolacion to be one district while Lapu-Lapu City and Cordova will be another district.
This is also Garcia’s suggestion.
If the redistricting will be enacted into law before 2010, then Cebu will have to hold special elections for congressmen for the new districts.
Garcia pointed out that Cebu is bigger than Bicol Region or the entire Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao in terms of voting population.
There have been several other places that have also implemented redistricting. “Nabiyaan na ta. Now, we have to double-time aron maapsan nato sila (We have been left behind. We have to work double-time to overtake them),” he said.
Even before he was elected as congressman of the second district, Garcia has always been vocal about the need for Cebu to get more districts. (MBG)
