BENGUET lawmakers are pushing for additional legislative district in the province.
Authored by Board Member Robert Namoro, a resolution is now underway for the creation of two legislative districts to fast track the development in the province.
Namoro during the recent Sangguniang Panlalawigan meeting asked Representative Ronald Cosalan to create and additional district for Benguet.
Namoro said he expects all the Municipal Government particularly the congressional seat represented by Cosalan will have the same opinion as to the need of having more than one spokesperson in the House of Representatives.
Apart from this, Namoro believes the resolution will hasten projects for improvements, which has been a clamor for a lot of Benguet folks.
“An additional representative in the Congress will help aid the development of the province. Although the national government is continuously supporting Benguet, a separate district might be needed to double the improvements we receive,” Namoro said.
In the 2015 census conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority, Benguet has a population of 446, 224.
In addition, Namoro said his proposal is anchored based on Article VI, Section 5(3) of the constitution which states each Legislative District shall comprise as far as practible, contiguous, compact and adjacent territory, each city with a population of at least 250,000 or each Province, shall have one representative.
If the proposal is approved, District I will include the municipalities of Bokod, Itogon, Kabayan, Sablan, and Tuba, while District II will comprise the municipalities of Atok, Bakun, Buguias, Kapangan Kibungan, La Trinidad, Mankayan, and Tublay.
Based on the statistics reflected in the 2015 census, District I have a population of 147,941 while District II has a population of 298,283.
Namoro said the distribution of the present population to meet the required 250,000 population will be addressed as soon as the proposal is approved.