Bills dividing Maguindanao into two get Senate panels’ OK

Various measures seeking to split the existing province of Maguindanao into two were approved on Monday by a Senate joint panel.

Upon Senator Sherwin Gatchalian’s motion, the Senate committee on local government joined with electoral reforms and people’s participation approved House Bill No. 6413 and several counterpart bills in the Senate that would divide the province into two — Northern Maguindanao and Southern Maguindanao.

Under the proposals, 24 of 36 municipalities of the province would be under the Southern Maguindanao while the remaining 11 municipalities would be covered by Northern Maguindanao.

The province of Southern Maguindanao will be composed of the following: Ampatuan, Buluan, Datu Paglas, Datu Piang, Pagalungan, Shariff Aguak, South Upi, Sultan sa Barongis, Talayan, General S. K. Pendatun, Mamasapano, Sultan Sumagka, Datu Montawal, Paglat, Guindulungan, Datu Saudi-Ampatuan, Datu Unsay, Datu Abdullah Sangki, Rajah Buayan, Pandag, Mangudadatu, Datu Anggal Midtimbang, Datu Hoffer Ampatuan, Datu Salibo and Shariff Saydona Mustapha.

The 11 municipalities under the Northern Maguindanao would be the following: Barira, Buldon, Datu Blah T. Sinsuat, Datu Odin Sinuat, Kabuntalan, Matanog, Northern Kabuntalan, Parang, Sultan Kudarat, Sultan Mastura and Upi.

For the purpose of this section, Cotabato City shall have its own legislative district effective upon the election and qualification of its representative to be held on the second Monday of May in the year 2022. The incumbent Representatives of the present Province of Maguindanao shall continue to represent their respective legislative districts until the expiration of their term of office.

In the proposed law it stated “Any municipality that may hereafter be created within the jurisdiction of their provinces shall automatically form part of its constituent units.”

“Not all redistricting is harmful. New jurisdictions may be warranted if the population has grown big enough and that preferences for public goods have become sufficiently heterogeneous,” Maguindanao Rep. Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu, one of the proponents of the measures, said in his manifestation during the hearing.

Senator Francis ‘Tol’ Tolentino, meanwhile, lamented that the existing province, despite its “rich and abundant natural resources,” remains to be “one of the poorest provinces” in the country.

As of 2015, the current undivided Maguindanao has a total population of 1,173,933.

“Reforms must be done in order to remedy this predicament and one way to ensure this is by splitting the province into two,” Tolentino, chairman of the local government committee and one of the authors of the bills in the Senate, said during the hearing.

In moving for the approval of the measures, Gatchalian noted that the bills would still be subject to discussions in the Technical Working Group (TWG), to resolve the issue of where the “capital should be.”

“Just to move the bills forward, I move to approve the said measures and transition to a TWG,” he said.

Tolentino’s press release after the hearing, however, already indicated that Buluan would be the administrative capital of Southern Maguindanao while Sultan Kudarat would be the capital of Northern Maguindanao.

Senator Imee Marcos seconded Gatchalian’s motion, while Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa abstained from voting.

A consolidated measure will then be reported to the Senate plenary for consideration.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1352528/bills-dividing-maguindanao-into-two-get-senate-panels-ok