PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan — The proposed bill to divide Palawan into three provinces will be filed before the House of Representatives on Monday, Palawan 3rd District Rep. Gil Acosta said Friday afternoon.
The bill will seek the approval of members of Congress to the province’s division into Northern, Southern, and East Central Palawan.
Acosta is the co-author of the proposal together with Palawan Congressmen Franz Chicoy Alvarez and Eric Abueg.
Acosta said the proposed bill was the result of a resolution approved in December 2017 by the members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Palawan.
If the proposed bill gets the green light from other members of the Lower House, “Puerto Princesa will become another province,” Acosta said.
He assured that the division of the province will be advantageous as it will bring government services closer to the people.
“I don’t see any disadvantage if we divide Palawan into three provinces. What I see is that we will all benefit from it,” he stated.
He said the issue of where their capitals will be, have not yet been resolved.
“We are still going to have a meeting with Governor Jose Alvarez on Saturday. We would probably discuss there where the capitals are going to be,” he said.
Southern Palawan will be composed of the towns of Aborlan, Narra, Quezon, Rizal, Sofronio Española, Brooke’s Point, Bataraza, and Balabac.
Northern Palawan, on the other hand, will be comprised of Coron, Culion, Busuanga, Linapacan, Cuyo, Agutaya, and Magsaysay, while Central will be constituted by the towns of Roxas, Taytay, El Nido, San Vicente, Dumaran, Kalayaan, Araceli, and Cagayancillo. (PNA)
