ALTERNATIVE TO REDISTRICTING

STO. TOMAS–Board Member Alfie Bince Jr. put forward this proposition in a bid to manifest his own opposition to the bill in the House of Representatives seeking the creation of an additional legislative district in the province.

Bince believes the division of Pangasinan is the best alternative to House Bill No. 4267 jointly sponsored in the House of Representatives by Reps. Victor Agbayani and Ma. Rachel Arenas.

Bince, a lawyer, said he will soon file a resolution in the provincial legislative body asking the six congressmen of the province to sponsor a bill seeking to divide the province into two parts, one part of which will be called Western Pangasinan and the other part to be called Eastern Pangasinan.

Bince said this idea is not new and has already been proposed in Congress in the late 1960s.

That bill was filed by then Congressman Aguedo F. Agbayani, father of current Rep. Agbayani, who, however, eventually refused to pursue the division when he became governor in 1971.

The elder Agbayani filed the ‘Divide-Pangasinan’ bill when the governor of Pangasinan was Cipriano Primicias Jr., his political arch-rival.

At that time, there were only five congressional districts in Pangasinan.

Bince said since there are now six congressional districts, it is now actually easier to divide the province into two parts.

The board member proposed that the first, second and third districts will form parts of Western Pangasinan while the fourth, fifth and sixth district will comprise Eastern Pangasinan.

Clarifying that the move is in no way an affront to Governor Amado Espino Jr., Bince said this is more in anticipation of the implementation of federalism where regions would be considered as federal states, to be ruled by federal governors.

Bince believes that a new region, distinct and separate from Ilocos Region, would be created out of the proposed Western Pangasinan and Eastern Pangasinan.

“There is a bigger chance that Western Pangasinan and Eastern Pangasinan would be created as a separate region than when Pangasinan remains intact,” Bince said.

At the same time, Bince said House Bill No. 4267 is bound to fail, firstly because it violates a constitutional provisionthat there should be 220 regular congressmen in the lower house.

Senator Joker Arroyo also pointed this out noting that there are already 219 regular congressmen in the lower house while many provinces, including Pangasinan, are pushing to add more.

“My opinion is, it will not be approved,” said Bince, who was among the provincial board members who went to the Senate on Wednesday to submit a copy of their resolution opposing House Bill No. 4267.

Secondly, Bince said, Rep. Arthur Celeste of the first district already withdrew his sponsorship, hence, the Senate effectively cannot tackle the bill since it affects four towns in Celeste’s district.

According to Bince, Arenas is also reportedly withdrawing her sponsorship of the bill.—LM

Share your Comments or Reactions

comments

Powered by Facebook Comments