By Jelly F. Musico
Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III has filed a bill seeking the separation of the City of San Pedro from the first legislative district of Laguna province to constitute a lone congressional district.
In his Senate Bill No. 3029, Pimentel said that a city may qualify as a legislative district if it has a population of at least 250,000 and the reapportionment is done within three years following the return of every census.
The City of San Pedro has a registered population of 294,310 inhabitants as of the 2010 Census of Population and Housing.
Moreover, the City of Santa Rosa is also a candidate for lone congressional seat with registered population of 284,670 inhabitants.
Pimentel, who is the chairman of the Senate committee on justice and human rights, said there is a gross disproportion between the current population of some local government units (LGUs) and the number of congressional districts.
To illustrate the situation, Pimentel said the City of Biñan with population of 283,396 has one legislative district and the City of Las Piñas with population of 552,573 has also only one legislative district.
“This disparity shows that there is no equal representation and voice of the people in Congress,” said Pimentel.
He said to remedy the situation Congress may enact laws to create separate legislative districts once the population criterion is met.
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