Senate approves reapportionment of
Batangas province, cityhood of General Trias

The Senate has approved on third and final reading a bill seeking the reapportionment of Batangas into six legislative districts.

Senator Bongbong Marcos Jr., chairman of the Senate Committee on Local Government and sponsor of House Bill 3750, said Batangas has four legislative districts. He said House Bill 3750 sought to separate Batangas City from the second legislative district to constitute the lone legislative district of Batangas.

However, he said, during one of the committee deliberations of the bill, Senator Ralph Recto proposed to amend the bill. He said the proposal was to reapportion the province of Bantangas into six legislative districts by creating the fifth legislative district to be composed of Batangas City and the sixth legislative district to be composed of Lipa City.

Currently, Marcos said, Batangas City is part of the second congressional district while Lipa city is part of the fourth congressional district.

"The creation of two new legislative districts will boost the development efforts not only in the said areas, but in the whole province of Batangas.With the increasing population of Batangas, the province indeed deserves additional seats in the House of Representatives," Marcos said.

Meanwhile, the Senate also approved on final reading House Bill 4769 which sought to convert the municipality of General Trias in Cavite into a component city.

Marcos said General Trias, historically known as San Francisco de Malabon, is a first class municipality in Cavite.

"From an agriculture-based locality, General Trias has evolved into a progressive municipality with a steady growth of industry and real estate development," Marcos said in his sponsorship speech.

He said General Trias registered an income of P235.5 million over the past years, way above the P100 million income requirement for a city under the Local Government Code. It has also become one of the most progressive municipalities in Cavite.

He said the conversion of General Trias into a component city will not reduce the income of Cavite to less than the minimum annual income requirement of P20 million under the Local Government Code, as "General Trias is host to eight relocation or resettlement stites which were built for the incoming residents displaced from various areas." (MaeJoy Albano-Miranda)