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Friday, March 29, 2024

The Truth About The Creation Of 3rd Congressional District Of Zamboanga Del Sur

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Pagadian City –  In respond to unending media battle of two politicians  in the province of Zamboanga del Sur, about the creation of 3rd congressional district, the official Facebook page of city administrator released a statement today to clear the misunderstanding as follows;

▪️Truth matters. On a personal level, telling the truth builds one’s credibility, gains people’s trust, and strengthens that character and impression of integrity. Telling and knowing the truth also has practicable social impact as they allow people to see issues and concerns clearly, guide them to make informed decisions, and eventually strengthen social bonds—as they build trust and confidence between the experts and the amateurs, the wise and the meek, the authorities and the citizens, and the governors and the governed.

▪️The idea of the proposed 3rd Congressional District of Zamboanga del Sur arose after some members of the 1st District electorate felt that the Countryside Development Funds (CDF) were unevenly distributed, and that funds allocated to some local government units were not enough to boost infrastructure projects, like bridges, farm to markets roads, and all sorts of programs to raise the standard of living of its constituents. Pagadian City, in particular, is affected by the manner of how the CDF is spread across the first district. Some sectors believe that additional funds poured into the capital city of the province would further spur its economic and social development, which eventually would also trickle across the municipalities of the province.

▪️The call for the creation of a new legislative district does not only rest on the people’s desire to have more representatives bringing the voices of the people of Zamboanga del Sur in the lower house of congress. It also hinges on the fact that members of congress are provided with the much-coveted Countryside Development Fund which can be programmed to stimulate growth and development of the local government units covered by each legislative district.

Current legal provisions define congressional districts as either a single local government unit, or contiguous and compact territories composed of adjacent local government units. A member of congress elected from these legislative districts serve a maximum of three consecutive three-year terms. The Philippine Statistics Authority conducts a constitutionally mandated census every five years, the figures of which are used to determine the number of congressional districts each province or city is entitled, in a process called apportionment. Only a minimum of 250,000 population is required to qualify for the creation of a new legislative district.

▪️Despite this clamor, Congresswoman Divina Grace C. Yu claimed in her radio and social media interviews that creation of a new legislative district is always viewed with “justifiable” suspicion. The common perception is that legislators propose such creation specifically for a political ally or family member to fill—a political accommodation, if you will. She said that the creation of a new district must be based on a “noble cause”, especially because each congressional office burdens the government with costs for salaries of staff and office maintenance. “Just because the population has reached 250,000, we must immediately create a new congressional district?”, she asked. She claimed in the same interview last March 12, 2021 on “Victory Zamboanga del Sur” Social Media Page that it is not the norm of congress to immediately create a new district once the population hits 250,000. To prove her point, she mentioned a laundry list of provinces which have not created new congressional districts since 1987, particularly Pampanga, Cavite, Rizal and Caloocan.

▪️The problem with the statement of the good Deputy Speaker is the Senate approved three days prior to her statement, House Bill 7700 which sought to divide the first district of Caloocan into two. House Bill 6867, which was passed earlier, also allowed Bulacan to gain two additional seats in the House of Representatives. Both proposals which originated in the House of Representatives were passed unanimously by the Senate From the foregoing, we can only surmise: either the Deputy Speaker was unaware of what was happening in congress while she was present, or she was absent when both House Bills were passed. If either is true, then her representation of the first district of Zamboanga del Sur may have gone to waste. Take note: in her Press Conference last March 12, she indicated that putting up a new Congressional Seat would cost the Filipino people money which can potentially be another waste of tax-payers’ money. The people’s money would be wasted when Representatives to Congress are elected and paid, but do not pay attention to, or are absent from the business of the legislature.

Or if she knew, or was present during the deliberations and passage of the two house bills, she was just outrightly lying to the people of Zamboanga del Sur.

▪️Contrary to her claim that it is not the norm of the House of Representatives to propose the creation of new congressional seats when an LGU or a contiguous territory of LGUs reach the minimum population requirement, the lower house regularly creates new house seats as the population grows. Starting from 200 congressional seats in the 8th Congress of the Philippines in 1987, legislative seats have constantly been added which now has reached 243 in the current 18th Congress of the Philippines which ends next year. The 19th Congress, which begins after the elections next year, will have a minimum of 249 seats, with the addition of the recently created house seats. Zamboanga Sibugay Province, which grew from the third district of Zamboanga del Sur, added its second congressional seat in 2006– barely 5 years after its founding.

So, why not another congressional seat for Zamboanga del Sur?

▪️Mayor Samuel Co proposed the creation of a new congressional district for Pagadian City and an adjacent municipality about a decade ago. He sought the blessing of the former governor during that time. His first attempt, according to him, did not gain traction due to lack of population. His second attempt in 2012, however, received a more favorable response. The bill, according to the mayor, already passed the House of Representatives, and was due to be heard in the Senate. However, according to the mayor, the bill was withdrawn. By whom? According to Mayor Co, the Congressman of the first district of Zamboanga del Sur at that time– Victor Yu. (Subsequent reports say that the withdrawal of the bill was due to lack of population. However, Mayor Co claimed that Sen. Bongbong Marcos personally told him who withdrew the bill.)

▪️Why are the Yu couple averse to the creation of a new legislative district for Zamboanga del Sur? Despite the number of press conferences or interviews in which they responded to the question why they are not in favor of the proposal, none of them has quite satisfactorily explained the disadvantages creating a new congressional seat would bring to the province. The flipside provides overwhelming reasons to proceed with its creation.

▪️The truth sets us free. The earlier the Yu couple dish out the reason why they are against the creation of the new legislative district, the earlier they free themselves, and the people of Zamboanga del sur, from the convoluted story they have woven which makes little to no sense. (Bobby Ancheta)

(News & photo courtesy of Asenso Pagadian)

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