13 senators back proposal to create CamSur district for GMA's son

MANILA, Philippines - Thirteen senators, including several presidential aspirants, are supporting the proposal to create a separate district in Camarines Sur for President Arroyo’s son Diosdado.

The presidential son is the incumbent representative of the province’s first district, which is the bailiwick of Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr., who is expected to reclaim his congressional seat in the 2010 elections.

The presidential aspirants who are supporting the bill are Manuel Villar, Francis Escudero and Loren Legarda, who are identified with the opposition; and Richard Gordon, who is with the pro-administration block.

Opposition congressmen are wondering what kind of politics prompted Villar, Escudero and Legarda to endorse the bill.

They have affixed their signatures on the joint report of the committee on local government and the committee on constitutional amendments recommending Senate approval of the measure.

Congressmen following the developments in the Senate on the bill have obtained a copy of the report.

Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, local government committee chairman, did not sign the joint recommendation and has vowed to block the proposal on constitutional grounds.

Sen. Mar Roxas, standard bearer of the Liberal Party in the 2010 elections until he gave way to Aquino’s expected candidacy last week, did not sign the report, along with Rodolfo Biazon, Panfilo Lacson, Antonio Trillanes IV, and Jamby Madrigal.

Other senators who endorsed the creation of a separate district for Rep. Arroyo were Joker Arroyo, Ramon Revilla Jr., Alan Peter Cayetano, Pia Cayetano, Lito Lapid, and Francis Pangilinan.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, President Pro-tempore Jinggoy Estrada and Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, who are ex-officio members of the two committees, signed the report.

Another ex-officio member, Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr., did not sign it.

The Senate has started plenary discussions on the bill authored in the House by Rep. Luis Villafuerte of Camarines Sur’s second district. Since Aquino is against the measure, those supporting it have picked Sen. Arroyo, a Bicolano, to sponsor and defend it.

If the bill is not approved before the period for the filing of certificates of candidacy in November, it would have to await the next Congress.

According to Aquino, the two districts to be formed out of the first district and two towns in Villafuerte’s turf do not pass the population requirement of 250,000 per district prescribed by the Constitution.

Provincial officials led by Villafuerte’s son Luis Raymond, the governor, are against the division of the Andaya’s bailiwick because they are proposing a general redistricting of the province that would result in the creation of not one but two additional districts.

In letters sent to the Senate, they said Rep. Villafuerte’s proposal would cripple the existing first district as it would take out from it five towns.

They said ironically, it is Secretary Andaya’s bailiwick that would be deprived of the required population.

“The remaining towns of Del Gallego, Lupi, Ragay, Sipocot, and Cabusao have a combined population of 176,383, 30 percent short of the population requirement prescribed by the Constitution,” they said.