TAGBILARAN CITY — Bohol Second District Rep. Erico Aristotle Aumentado on Wednesday filed a bill proposing to reapportion the province of Bohol into five legislative districts.
From the present three legislative districts, Aumentado said there is a need to make Bohol into five districts as he “feels Boholanos deserve more projects, considering the geographical size of the province and the increase in population.”
In House of Representatives Bill No. 7999, which he filed on Aug. 1, the lawmaker proposed that the First District shall be composed of Tagbilaran City and seven towns — Alburquerque, Baclayon, Corella, Cortes, Dauis, Panglao, and Sikatuna.
Under the proposal, Second District shall cover 10 towns — Antequera, Balilihan, Calape, Catigbian, Clarin, Loon, Maribojoc, Sagbayan, San Isidro, and Tubigon.
Except for Clarin, San Isidro, and Sagbayan, the rest of these towns belong to the First District at present.
The proposed new Third District shall be composed of nine towns — Anda, Buenavista, Candijay, Dagohoy, Danao, Guindulman, Inabanga, Pilar, and Sierra Bullones.
Buenavista, Dagohoy, Danao and Inabanga are currently grouped together under Second District towns.
Fourth District shall be composed of nine towns — Alicia, Bien Unido, Getafe, Mabini, President Carlos P. Garcia, San Miguel, Talibon, Trinidad, and Ubay.
Except for the towns of Alicia and Mabini which currently belong to the Third District, the rest belong to the Second District.
The proposed Fifth District shall be composed of 12 towns — Batuan, Bilar, Carmen, Dimiao, Duero, Garcia-Hernandez, Jagna, Lila, Loay, Loboc, Sevilla, and Valencia. At present, all these towns belong to the Third District.
Aumentado explained that his intention in proposing to reapportion Bohol into five districts is “to see to it that more people benefit from government services.”
He said providing additional legislative districts would mean additional budget allocations for the province, which in turn would boost development in the countryside as more representations in Congress would mean more watchdogs and defenders to push for vital legislation that would spur development.
Aumentado said the reapportioning of Bohol would commence in the next national and local elections after Congress has passed the bill into law.
He also proposed that the incumbent representatives of the First, Second and Third Districts of Bohol continue to represent their respective legislative districts until the new representatives have been elected and qualified. (Angeline Valencia/PNA)
