MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has signed into law five local bills including a measure that makes Antipolo City the capital of Rizal province.
Republic Act No. 11475 moves the capital and seat of Rizal from Pasig City in Metro Manila to Antipolo City.
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The president signed the measure into law last June 19.
Rep. Roberto Puno (Antipolo City), principal author of the bill, previously said Pasig has not been part of Rizal province for more than four decades but remained the capital of the province.
Pasig was one of the municipalities included in Rizal when it was formed by the second Philippine Commission led by then colonial Governor-General William Howard Taft in 1901. The city, however, had been under the territorial and political jurisdiction of Metro Manila since 1975, Puno noted.
Sen. Francis Tolentino, sponsor of the bill, said the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Rizal has issued an ordinance transferring the seat of the provincial government to Antipolo City.
The declaration of Antipolo City as the province's seat of government would generate more economic activities, the senator added.
Other measures signed into law are Republic Act No. 11471, which creates a barangay to be known as Barangay H-2 in Dasmariñas City in Cavite; Republic Act No. 11472, which increases the bed capacity of the CARAGA Regional Hospital in Surigao City; Republic Act No. 11473, which upgrades the Talisay District Hospital in Talisay City, Cebu; and Republic Act No. 11474, which upgrades the Maria L. Eleazar District Hospital in Tagkawayan, Quezon province.