MANDAUE City’s ambition to become a lone congressional district is slowly becoming a reality.
This, after a bill authored by Rep. Jonas Cortes (Cebu, 6th district) to declare Mandaue City into a lone district has been approved on third and final reading before the Senate last Monday, Feb. 4.
Sen. Sonny Angara, who chairs the Senate committee on local governments, sponsored House Bill 8511.
“For me, residents of Mandaue City are a step closer to achieving their dream to have a well-deserved and long overdue lone congressional district,” Cortes told reporters on Thursday, Feb. 7.
If converted into a lone district, Mandaue City will have its own representative in Congress and will receive its own congressional funding from the national government.
Cortes said HB 8511 still needs the signatures of House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III and President Rodrigo Duterte before it is enacted into a law.
Cortes is confident the three will sign the bill.
But even if Mandaue City becomes a lone district, Cortes assured that Cordova and Consolacion, the remaining municipalities in the sixth district, would not be dissolved and would be considered as a “residual district.”
“This is a big win for Mandaue City. We are one step closer to our dreams. Since the days of former House speaker Sonny (John Henry) Osmeña, only a few districts have been added to Cebu. More districts, the better. For me, Cebu deserves more districts as this will be good for the Province,” Cortes said in Cebuano.
Based on the 2015 national census, Mandaue City had a population of 365,144. The law requires a minimum population of 250,000 to become a lone district. (FMD of Superbalita Cebu, JKV)