Monday, January 05, 2009 Bill approval by month’s end
REP. Antonio Cuenco (Cebu City, south district) assured Congress will pass the bill creating the new barangay Banawa Englis by the end of the month.
House Bill (HB) 5234 has been approved at the committee level at the House of Representatives and will be presented before the plenary for second reading and for final deliberation.
Cuenco said that since the bill is a “local” concern, he does not expect any objections from colleagues during plenary discussions.
He said he will just have to ask any of the senators to sponsor a complementary bill.
He expects the plebiscite to be held in March next year and the special election six to 12 months after.
“I expect no objections against my bill,” the congressman said.
He was grateful that no one among the 55-member committee on local government objected to HB 5234 or “An Act Creating Barangay Banawa Englis in the City of Cebu,” which will divide Barangay Guadalupe.
According to the National Statistics Office, the current population of Guadalupe is around 47,700, with Banawa Englis residents numbering over 23,700.
Guadalupe, Cebu City’s biggest barangay, has a land area and population comparable to an average Cebu town.
‘Clamor’
In his bill, Cuenco said that Banawa Englis residents have been “strongly and consistently clamoring to convert their place into a full-pledged barangay” for the past 15 years.
Banawa Englis residents have been asking that they have their own barangay since 1987.
On Dec. 18, 1996, the City Council approved Ordinance 1661, which sought to divide Barangay Guadalupe into two.
Then councilors Michael Rama, now Cebu City acting mayor, and Ronald Cuenco, Rep. Cuenco’s son, authored the ordinance.
On March 15, 2000, the council approved Ordinance 1817, which amended Section 5 of Ordinance 1661 and reset the plebiscite from May 6, 2000 to May 2002.
However, the plebiscite never pushed through.
Cuenco filed HB 5234 last Sept. 30, 2008 after the City Council failed to set the plebiscite for Ordinance 1661.
Holding the plebiscite would have been much easier through the City Council, but officials of the United Banawa Englis Association Inc. said they were already tired of waiting for the body to act on the matter.
Last October, the group launched a signature campaign at the Alliance of Two Hearts Parish in Banawa, Guadalupe, Cebu City to support HB 5234. (RHM)
