'Caminerondering' and/or Garciamandering in the south
The politicians in southern Cebu are telling us that the creation of the new seventh district is being pursued so as to hasten the development of the poorest congressional district in the entire province of Cebu. The new district with eight small towns will have a combined population of 186,787, and a total of 141 barangays.
Alcantara has only 13,856 people, and nine barangays. while Dumanjug has 46,756 and 37 barangays. Thus, most probably a Garcia from Dumanjug will again win as the kingpin of the seventh. Argao has 69,503 residents with 45 barangays, and Dalaguete has 63,239 with 35 barangays. A candidate from these towns will dominate the second.
Therefore, we do not have to be a genius to discern that the redistricting is a compromise between two mortal enemies, so as to have their own respective turfs to control. Win-win. Let us call this gambit as Caminerondering (with apologies to Cong. Willy) and Garciamandering (with apology to the Garcias), their own version of clever redistricting copied from the original US brand of gerrymandering. Whatever it is, we do not think that the welfare of the people is the prime motivation. This is purely a political move. That is why President Noy could smell a rat. He dilly-dallies in acting on such a bill.
The second district, as it is constituted today, was an oversized configuration of three post-war congressional districts, namely: the old fourth district of Sibonga, Argao, Alcoy and Dalaguete (or SAAD), which was dominated by the Kintanars, prominetly by Isidro "Ed" Kintanar from Argao; the old seventh district, comprising Boljoon, Oslob, Santander, Samboan, Ginatilan, Malabuyoc, Alegria, Badian, Moalboal and the tiny Alcantara (ten poor towns) controlled by the Cuencos (Don Mariano Jesus, Don Miguel and Don Manuel) and two towns from the old sixth district, namely Ronda and Dumanjug controlled by Don Maning Zosa in the sixties and early seventies.
The Constitutional Commission that drafted the 1987 Constitution included a very brilliant Argao lawyer, Hilario G. Davide Jr., from Colawin, Argao. He was commonly perceived as the main proponent of the configuration of the second district, which had lumped all fourth district towns except Sibonga, all the ten towns of the old seventh district plus two towns taken from the old sixth, Ronda and Dumanjug. These fifteen towns became what is currently the second district, the poorest among all the congressional districts in the entire province. It has the most number of component municipalities but it has the lowest economic development. The roads are bad. There are no employment opportunities.
Knowing Atty. H. G. Davide Jr. to be a man of impeccable integrity, we can not speculate that the lumping together of fifteen towns was an act of gerrymandering. But it turned out later that no candidate from the western side can beat anyone from Argao. The two first class towns of Argao and Dalaguete alone have a combined population that is more than the population of all the other 13 towns. It was only Congressman Pabling Garcia, a bar topnotcher from Dumanjug, who achieved the feat of winning. But after serving in the House from 1987 to 1995 and also from 2007 to 2013, the gentleman from Bitoon, Dumanjug was later beaten by a very passionate campaigner, Cong. Willy from Argao.
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