Collision course
DavSur mayors seek PRRD's intervention
DIGOS City – The mayors in the province of Davao del Sur seek the president’s intervention following the refusal of the province’s lone member of the House of Representatives to heed the call to pass a bill in Congress for the division of the province’s lone congressional district into two districts.
The unheeded call has set in motion a collision course between the chief executives of the 10 towns comprising the province and the province’s lone representative in the House of Congress, Congresswoman Mercedes Cagas.
Mayor Ret. Gen. Conrado Laza of the Municipality of Hagonoy, who currently chairs the League of Mayors of the Philippines (LMP)-Davao del Sur Chapter, yesterday disclosed that the mayors have brought the matter to the Office of the President, seeking President Rodrigo Duterte’s intervention on the failure of Davao del Sur Congresswoman Cagas to act on the local leaders’ call for the creation of a second congressional district in the province.
Congresswoman Cagas, however, declared that creating a second congressional district in the province is not in her priority agenda.
“Re-districting is not my priority agenda”, Cagas said.
Digos City Mayor Joseph Peñas said the province of Davao del Sur is qualified to have two congressional districts, adding that Congresswoman Cagas would be doing a great disservice to the people in the province if she remains adamant to heeding their call.
Laza said the mayors respect the separation of the powers of the legislative and the executive branches of the government but the continuous refusal of Congresswoman Cagas to act on the LMP’s call leaves the mayors no other recourse but to seek other options. Orlando B. Dinoy