President Duterte has signed into law the measure dividing Palawan into three provinces, namely: Palawan del Norte, Palawan Oriental, and Palawan del Sur.
A copy of Republic Act (RA) 11259 given to Palace reporters, Saturday morning, showed that the measure was signed by Duterte on April 5. It will be effective 15 days after its publication in the Official Gazette or any newspaper.
Under the law, the province of Palawan del Norte will be composed of the municipalities of Coron, Culion, Busuanga, Linacapan, Taytay and El Nido.
The province of Palawan Oriental, in turn, will be comprised of the municipalities of Roxas, Araceli, Dumaran, Cuyo, Agutaya, Magsaysay, Cayancillo, and San Vicente.
The province of Palawan del Sur, which will be considered as the “mother province,” will be composed of the municipalities of Aborlan, Narra, Quezon, Rizal, Espanola, Brooke’s Point, Bataraza, Balacbac and Kalayaan.
The three provinces will be created depending on the results of a plebiscite in the affected areas. It will be held on the second Monday of May 2020. The election of new elective officials will be held on the second Monday of May 2022 during the national and local elections.
The incumbent representatives of the present province of Palawan shall continue to represent their respective legislative districts until the new ones are elected.
Each of the three new provinces will have a provincial governor, vice governor, Sangguniang Panlalawigan secretary and members, provincial treasurer, assessor, accountant, budget officer, planning and development coordinator, engineer, health officer, administrator, legal officer, agriculturist, social welfare and development officer, veterinarian, and general services officer.
Early on, the proposal to divide Palawan into three provinces met negative criticisms, one coming from Senator Risa Hontiveros who expressed concern that if China has aggressively and arrogantly exerted its claim on the West Philippine Sea, it can now easily conquer the three provinces which are now reduced as small local government units.
Senator Sonny Angara, who endorsed the bill, explained that the proposal was not “motivated by partisan political concerns, nor a gerrymandering exercise.” He said it was appropriate since Palawan is the biggest province in the Philippines in terms of area.
https://news.mb.com.ph/2019/04/13/duterte-signs-law-splitting-palawan-into-3-provinces/
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