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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider Visayas devider Benitez to refile bill dividing Bacolod into 2 districts

Benitez to refile bill dividing Bacolod into 2 districts

Published Jul 28, 2025 04:28 pm
BACOLOD CITY – Bacolod City Rep. Albee Benitez plans to refile a bill that would divide this highly urbanized city into two congressional districts.
BENITEZ
BENITEZ
“We will file a bill dividing Bacolod into two districts, and hopefully, the Senate and the President (Ferdinand Marcos Jr.) will see the necessity of this measure,” Benitez said in a media interview.
Former Bacolod City Rep. now Mayor Greg Gasataya filed a similar bill during his final term in Congress and Benitez plans to refile the same proposal.
Benitez emphasized that the City Council must pass a resolution supporting the initiative as it is one of the legal requirements for redistricting.
“All bills for the 20th Congress will go back to zero, so we will have to start again from step one,” Benitez said.
Last week, the City Council passed a resolution authored by Councilor Al Victor Espino, chairperson of the Committee on Laws and Ordinances, requesting Benitez to enact a law redistricting or reapportioning the lone legislative district of this city into two legislative districts.
The resolution stated that this request reiterates previous resolutions passed by the City Council underscoring the consistent and long-standing position of the local legislative body in favor of the redistricting of the city.
The resolution noted that redistricting of Bacolod City is necessary to ensure proportional representation in Congress, enhance accessibility to national government programs, and strengthen democratic participation through more localized representation.
The division of this city is expected to bring substantial economic benefits through increased congressional representation, enabling greater access to national funding allocations, infrastructure programs, and other socio-economic development initiatives that will benefit all constituents, the resolution said.
It cited latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) that the population of this city has significantly surpassed the constitutional minimum for the creation of additional legislative districts.
The resolution said that Section 5, Article VI of the 1987 Philippine Constitution provides that each legislative district shall comprise, as far as practicable, contiguous, compact, and adjacent territory with a population of at least 250,000.
The proposed redistricting is consistent with the objectives of the Local Government Code and the national policy of decentralization and development planning at the local level, it added.

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Bacolod Bacolod City Rep. Albee Benitez
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