The House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading a bill that will create a new legislative district with the re-apportionment of the existing first district of Caloocan City under Rep. Dale “Along” Malapitan.
With 217 members voting in the affirmative and zero in the negative, House Bill No. 7700 was approved on final reading and sent to the Senate for approval.
Authored by Malapitan, the bill proposes to divide his congressional district into the First and Third Legislative Districts of the city.
The second district under Rep. Edgar Erice retains its territorial jurisdiction.
Erice had opposed HB 7700 but failed to prevent its passage on Monday.
The House Committee on Local Government strongly endorsed plenary approval with its chairman, Tarlac Rep. Noel Villanueva even going to the extent of engaging Erice in a heated plenary debate to defend the panel’s decision.
Erice and Malapitan, son of incumbent Caloocan Mayor Oscar Malapitan, are expected to square off for the mayoralty post when the incumbent mayor’s third and final term in office ends next year.
Villanueva said the bill seeks to divide the young Malapitan’s district in order to help guarantee development in far-flung barangays and extend government assistance to its residents.
“He possesses more knowledge than anybody else on the needs of his district,” Villanueva stated to the dismay of Erice.
Under the bill, the first district will be composed of the bigger portion of the original territory. Population in this area is estimated at less than 800,000 and will cover Barangays 1 to 4, 77to 86 and 132 to 177.
With a population of just over 300,000, the third district will have Barangays 178 to 188.
Villanueva said the bill is assured the support of the Sangguniang Panlungsod of Caloocan and is backed by the Constitution and pertinent local government laws.
Rep. Malapitan noted that based on the latest census on population released by the Philippine Statistics Office, Caloocan City had 1,583,978 people in 2015, which is a “marked increase” from the 645,000 census result in 1986.
At least 75.34 percent or around 1,193,419 currently reside in the First District while at least 390,500 live in the Second District where Erice is congressman.
“Hence this proposed bill which seeks to re-apportion the 1stLegislative District of Caloocan City is designed to address this patent inequity of representation,” said Rep. Malapitan.