DAVAO City third district Representative Isidro Ungab is proposing for a Metropolitan Davao Area or Metro Davao Area.
During his oath-taking speech Thursday, June 21, at the Sangguniang Panlungsod, Ungab recalled how Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio’s regional party, Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP) unified all provinces, cities and municipalities of Davao region, wherein majority of the candidates snagged a position in the recent midterm elections.
Ungab said his proposal for a metropolitan area would further unite all Davao provinces into one region.
He said, the late Vicente Duterte, father of President Rodrigo Duterte, was the last governor under a single-province Davao Region.
The region started to subdivide after his term in 1965.
He said he will propose this, together with two other district congressmen Vincent Garcia and Paolo Duterte if the president and the HNP executive committee will permit it.
The newly-elected congressman said it is possible based on the Philippine Constitution.
He said Article X, Section 11 states, “The Congress may, by law, create special metropolitan political subdivisions, subject to a plebiscite as set forth in Section 10 hereof.”
Also, “the component cities and municipalities shall retain their basic autonomy and shall be entitled to their own local executive and legislative assemblies. The jurisdiction of the metropolitan authority that will thereby be created shall be limited to basic services requiring coordination.”
Meanwhile, Ungab will returning to his position after a three-year political hiatus.
He had served his three consecutive terms from 2007-2016. (RGL)