P’panga leaders get assurance on creation of 5th district

ANGELES CITY — Senate President Franklin Drilon has assured leaders of Pampanga’s first district that the bill seeking the separation of Mabalacat and Magalang towns to comprise a new congressional district separate from this city will be passed in a plenary session next week.

"There is a high probability that the bill will take effect in time for the elections next year and I will therefore run for Congress in the new district," provincial board member and celebrity coach Joseller "Yeng" Guiao told The STAR yesterday.

Guiao said Drilon and other senators assured him and first district Rep. Francis Nepomuceno, who authored the bill already passed in the House, that Senate Bill 2441 will definitely be tackled for third hearing next week. Sen. Robert Barbers authored SB 2441.

Guiao said he is determined to run for congressman despite the disclosure of Mabalacat Mayor Marino Morales, president of the Pampanga Mayors’ League, that he, too, would run for Congress in the new fifth district.

But the camp of Angeles City Mayor Carmelo Lazatin, which has been lobbying against the bill, will reportedly seek court intervention to prevent its implementation, should it be passed into law.

Lazatin, who had been congressman in the first district up to 1996, plans to also run for congressman against re-electionist Nepomuceno.

Lazatin’s victories in past congressional elections were largely due to votes in Mabalacat and Magalang.

Free Zone

With Morales also in the administration Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD) party, Guiao expressed hope that party leaders would declare a free zone in the new district.

"I don’t think the equity of the incumbent would apply because there is no incumbent congressman in the new district," he said.

Nepomuceno is seeking re-election in what would become the lone district of Angeles City which is perceived to be his bailiwick.

Guiao said his optimism on the passage of SB 2441 is based on the approval last week of similar bills that created lone congressional districts for Antipolo City and San Jose City, Nueva Ecija.

"If these proposals were approved, I don’t see any reason why the proposal separating Angeles City from Mabalacat and Magalang would not be approved since we belong to the same batch proposed for district redistribution," he said.

Also expected to be passed into law next week is the creation of the lone district of Paranaque City, he said.

But Guiao said that if SB 2441 fails to make it in time for the 2004 polls, he would "seriously consider" running for Pampanga governor against Gov. Lito Lapid’s son Mark and Reps. Zenaida Ducut and Juan Pablo Bondoc.

He said he might even run for vice governor, adding that running for re-election as provincial board member is not one of his options.