• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The proposed legislation seeking to create another congressional district in Bacolod City is not a “dead bill”.
This was clarified yesterday by Negros Occidental 6th District Rep. Mercedes Alvarez, who chairs the House committee on local government.
Alvarez said the bill is still pending in her committee, adding that “we are only waiting for opinions of agencies involved”.
Like the Negros Island Region bill, it needs inputs from various national government agencies, she added.
There have been speculations that the bill authored by Bacolod City Lone District Rep. Greg Gasataya is now dead due to lack of budget.
Alvarez said they have not reached the point to declare the proposal as a “dead bill”.
There has been a delay in the hearing of the bill since they prioritized the deliberations on the 2024 national budget, she noted.
Alvarez said she will have to see when the committee hearing will be scheduled.
The Bacolod City redistricting bill, filed as House Bill 297 in July 2022, is seeking to create the first and second legislative districts by apportioning the 61 barangays comprising the city’s Lone District.
It got the support of the City Council, which passed a resolution recommending its approval.
Based on the 2020 Census of Population and Housing, Bacolod has a total population of 600,783.
One representative is needed for every 250,000 inhabitants to ensure that a city or a province is given proper and adequate representation in Congress. | GB
