SAN JOSE, Nueva Ecija—A bill creating a fifth congressional district in Nueva Ecija, which was filed in the House of Representatives during the previous Congress, has been revived.
This after second district Rep. Micaela Salvador-Violago filed a bill reapportioning the two cities and six municipalities in the second congressional district into two legislative districts.
Violago refiled the proposal filed in 2013 by her husband, former three-term congressman Joseph Gilbert Violago.
At present, the second congressional district comprises the cities of San Jose and Muñoz and the municipalities of Carranglan, Llanera, Lupao, Pantabangan, Rizal, and Talugtug.
In Salvador-Violago’s proposed bill, San Jose and the towns of Carranglan, Lupao and Talugtug will make up the second district, while a fifth congressional district will be created from Muñoz, Llanera, Pantabangan and Rizal.
Violago said the rising population of the province necessitates the reapportioning of its legislative districts.
Since 1987, the lawmaker said Nueva Ecija’s population had increased to over 1.9 million as of May 1, 2010, with a 2.1-percent annual growth rate as determined by the Philippine Statistics Authority.
Violago said it is imperative for Congress to carry out the reapportioning to meet the increasing socioeconomic demands of the province.
A few years back, former provincial board member Joseph Ortiz also proposed the additional congressional district by redistricting the four existing ones, although Congress has the sole power to create new congressional districts.
Ortiz stressed the province could add up to three new legislative districts since under existing laws, a congressional district could be carved out of an area with a population of at least 250,000.
Nueva Ecija is the biggest province in Central Luzon in terms of land area. Its four congressional districts are represented by Estrellita Suansing (first), Violago (second), Rosanna Vergara (third), and Magnolia Antonino (fourth).
