MICHAEL MEDINA
Editor in chief
ILIGAN CITY—Lanao del Norte First District Rep. Vicente “Varf” Belmonte’s move separating Iligan City from the rest of the province is now in its high point, as he told MINDANAO MONITOR in an interview inside his house that his HB 4050 is now in final reading, per Committee Report No. 495.
HB 4050, explained Belmonte, is “An act separating the city of Iligan from the first legislative district of the province of Lanao del Norte and constitute the lone legislative district of the city.”
Iligan city was created on June 16, 1950 declared a highly urbanized city in 1983 and at present has 44 barangays.
The National Statistics Office predicts Iligan’s 2007 population of 285,061 will grow to 342,087 by 2010.
Iligan City as present, it was learned, has a population of more than 340,000, enough to constitute a separate district away from its mother province.
Last year, Belmonte first filed HB 3164. On the other hand, Rep. Abdullah “Bobby” Dimaporo of the second district filed HB 2824, which will reapportion Lanao del Norte into two districts.
Belmonte’s HB 3164 was amended by the Committee on Local Government on Rules and became HB 4050.
At present, Belmonte’s district is composed of some seven municipalities including this city while Dimaporo’s increased the towns to be under the new district from seven to eleven, with the addition of Matungao, Pantar, Tagoloan and Baloi.
Specifically, the first district is composed of Iligan City and the coastal towns of Linamon, Kauswagan, Bacolod, Maigo, Kolambugan, Tubod and Baroy.
To recall, Republic Act No. 2228 divided Lanao into two, with one named Lanao del Norte and inaugurated on July 4, 1959 making Iligan City as the Capital with the late Salvador Lluch as its first governor.
In 1914, the province of Lanao was constituted to include the present provinces of Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur. The socio-political structure was made up of Muslims who composed the majority of the population.
As Christian settlements increased in the northern Lanao region, it was considered that Lanao be divided into two provinces in 1959.
Belmonte said he only filed a bill for the separation and not for the creation of another district for Lanao del Norte because the requirement of 250,000 voters cannot be meet since Iligan City will be separated from the said district.
With the remaining seven towns to be created into another district, it needs the sufficient number of population in order to comply the requirements of 250,000.
“Congressman Dimaporo knows the basic requirements, so he created another bill and hopefully by next week it will also be approved,” Belmonte notes.
With HB 4050, he said: “I am sure this will be divided and will be created a new legislative district,” adding the approved bill will then be transmitted to the Senate and pass the same procedure.
“I deeply believe that by 2009, it will be a law,” the congressman beams.
If what Belmonte said will come to pass, then in 2010, Iligan City will be electing their own representative.
In an earlier interview with Belmonte, he said that separating Iligan as an independent congressional district will bring developments in the city and its adjacent towns because the new Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) will then be concentrated on Iligan communities.
As this goes to press, it was likewise learned from the House of Representatives that there are eight more legislative districts in the offing.
House Speaker Prospero Nograles has declared in a statement last week that several of the bills creating the new districts have already been approved on third and final reading and have been sent to the Senate for approval.
Aside from the creating of Iligan as a separate distrtict, Nograles disclosed there will also be the “reapportionment of the legislative districts in Lanao del Norte” and the creation of Camarines Norte into a lone distrtict; Shariff Kabunsuan, which used to be Maguindanao only; Zamboanga-Sibugay, from Zamboanga; and the two districts of Marikina.
Also, Cavite will soon have seven districts, in addition to its four districts now pending approval, then there’s a new district to rise in the lone district of Pasig; the two districts of Taguig-Pateros; the new San Jose del Monte in Bulacan and Antipolo City’s new district, as well as that of Cagayan de Oro.
Nograles added the House managed to pass and enact several laws that created more districts, which logically increased the number of lawmakers, apart from the party-list representatives, who were entitled to at least a single seat in the chamber. WITH REPORTS FROM RIC CLET