Caminero to refile bill splitting 2nd district

CEBU, Philippines - Congressman-elect and outgoing Provincial Board member Wilfredo Caminero vowed to re-file the bill of outgoing Rep. Pablo Garcia dividing the second district into two separate congressional districts of the Province of Cebu.

Though they ran against each other in the last May 13 elections, both agreed that the district is too big and is unfair to have the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) spent for projects in a very large district while other congressmen have districts with fewer localities.

Caminero said that the district representative gets P70 million as PDAF for projects and assistance to the district’s 15 towns and 282 barangays.

Garcia filed House Bill 3865 in 2008 seeking to divide the province’s largest congressional district.

If approved, the towns of Argao, Dalaguete, Alcoy, Boljoon, Oslob, Santander and Samboan will remain in the second district while the towns of Ginatilan, Malabuyoc, Alegria, Badian, Moalboal, Alcantara, Ronda and Dumanjug will be delegated to the 7th district.

This would mean that two congressmen will represent the present district which will then be entitled to P70 million each of PDAF.

Sometime in 2011, the bill was approved in the Lower House with the House committee on local government set to submit its report to the Senate.

Meanwhile, aside from attending to the said legislative measure, Caminero also vowed to continue his advocacy in the PB in addressing the needs of marginalized sectors in the district.

These include the farming and fishery sector as well as the small entrepreneurs.

Being the chairman of the PB committee on agriculture, Caminero is very much concerned about the plight of farmers and fisherfolk in the Province of Cebu.

Caminero said that Capitol has not given much attention to these sectors under the administration of Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, daughter of Pablo.

In his campaign, Caminero told the people he would concentrate on serving farmers and fisherfolk.

Caminero believed that these sectors comprising 70 percent of the population could have contributed much to his victory against Garcia in the last elections.

Caminero beat Garcia by 6,901 votes with Cami-nero garnering 84,526 votes compared to Garcia’s 77,625. — (FREEMAN)