THE Bacolod City Council has approved a resolution requesting Lone District Representative Alfredo Abelardo Benitez to propose a law dividing Bacolod City’s lone legislative district into two.
The resolution, authored by Councilor Al Victor Espino, chairperson of the City Council committee on laws, was approved during the regular session of the City Council on Thursday, July 24, 2025.
Espino said based on the latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the population of Bacolod City has significantly surpassed the constitutional minimum for the creation of additional legislative districts.
He added that redistricting Bacolod City into two legislative districts is necessary to ensure proportional representation in Congress, enhance accessibility to national government programs, and strengthen democratic participation through more localized representation.
He also said that dividing the city into two legislative districts is expected to bring substantial economic benefits through increased congressional representation, allowing greater access to national funding allocations, infrastructure programs, and other socio-economic development initiatives that will benefit all constituents of Bacolod City.
Espino noted that Section 5, Article VI of the 1987 Philippine Constitution provides that each legislative district shall comprise, as far as practicable, contiguous, compact, and adjacent territory with a population of at least 250,000.
He said this request is in reiteration of previous resolutions passed by the City Council, underscoring the consistent and long-standing position of the local legislative body in favor of the redistricting of the city.
“The proposed redistricting is consistent with the objectives of the Local Government Code and the national policy of decentralization and development planning at the local level,” Espino added. (MAP)