Sixth district stands to lose ITS PRESTIGE AND INflUENCE

The legislative measure seeking to make Mandaue City a lone congressional district is now in the hands of President Rodrigo Duterte. And as to when the president signs it into a law, no one really knows, not even its proponents in the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Last Tuesday, The FREEMAN reported the announcement made by Senator Sonny Angara of what he called as good news for Mandauehanons when Senate Bill 8511, which separated the city from the province’s sixth legislative district, was approved on Monday.

"If Mandaue City is converted into a lone district, it will not only get its own congressional representative, but also appropriation from the national government for projects and services that will benefit its constituents," said Angara, chairman of the Senate Committee on Local Government and the author of the bill.

Of course, Mandaue City officials have welcomed this development. They have long been clamoring for a separate district. Sixth District Representative Jonas Cortes and Mandaue City Vice Mayor Carlo Pontico Fortuna both expressed their gratitude to Angara for bringing Mandauehanon’s cause to the Senate.

Though Mandaue City will greatly benefit from the bill, the sixth legislative area – whose size will be significantly reduced once the bill becomes a law – will stand to considerably lose its prestige and influence as a congressional/ legislative district both in the province and in the House of Representatives.

With the sixth district doomed to be composed only of the towns of Consolacion and Cordova, the issue now is whether it can continue to stand as a congressional or legislative area. Besides, those two local government units are not physically connected.

Mandaue City has long been ripe to be qualified as a lone congressional district. But the measure’s proponents should have also taken into consideration the impact of the bill on the sixth district, whose clout and status will substantially be diminished once Mandaue City becomes a separate district.