Lower House passes redistricting bill for Iloilo City
The bill pushing to divide Iloilo City into two districts has passed the House of Representatives, but will it pass the Senate?
The ball now lies in the Senate after the lower house approved House Bill 4256, a bill Reapportioning Iloilo City into two districts. Ilongga Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago reportedly expressed intention to sponsor the bill in the Senate.
House Bill 4256 sponsored by Representative Raul Gonzalez Jr. took a positive response from members of the House of Representatives during the third and fourth reading.
The House Bill 4256 was in relation to House Bill 3672 which was first filed by Gonzalez. House Bill 3672 is a proposed bill amending the 1936 Charter of Iloilo which will allow the creation of two congressional districts in the city.
After several deliberations on the floor, amendments were made thus House Bill 4256 was born. House Bill 4256 directly centers on the reapportioning of Iloilo City into two districts. It does not deal anymore on the amendments of the 1936 Charter of Iloilo City.
In the bill, there will be two congressional districts in the city, which follows that there will be two congressmen but one mayor. There would be additional members of the Sangguniang Panlungsod from eight to 16 members.
The first the congressional district will cover the districts of Mandurriao, Jaro, Lapaz and Lapuz. On the other hand, the districts of City Proper, Molo and Arevalo covers the second congressional district.
With the approval of House Bill 4256 in Congress, Gonzalez is confident that they could get the approval of the Senate before 2010. The House passed the bill earlier than the targeted date. And no plebiscite is needed for the redistricting. The bill does not include the creation of new local government unit, said Gonzalez.
Gonzalez said he is expecting that the bill would be approved by September. And yet, it was already concurred by the members of the House of Representatives early of August. It followed our time line.
He added that Senator Santiago is willing to sponsor the bill in the Senate. The solon said he was informed by his father Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez of Santiago's interest to support and co-sponsor the bill.
The solon believes that even the opposition senators will support House Bill 4256 which he deemed as "important."
The Senate could also give attention to the bill because of a "peaceful atmosphere" unlike before where there were attempts to overthrow Senate President Manny Villar from his post. Last year, the Senate was chaotic, said Gonzalez.