Senate okays new Pampanga district

ANGELES CITY — This city is definitely on its way to becoming a lone congressional district, divorcing itself from neighboring Mabalacat and Magalang towns and having its own congressman to be elected in next year’s polls.

The other day, the Senate finally passed on second reading Senate Bill No. 2441 which proposed the creation of the lone congressional district.

"The bill is virtually approved as the mere formality of third reading is slated on Monday," said provincial board member and basketball coach Joseller "Yeng" Guiao, who attended the Senate hearing.

With the proposal’s passage into law, Pampanga would have five congressional districts. Guiao, a native of Magalang, and Mabalacat Mayor Marino Morales, president of the Pampanga Mayors’ League, have announced plans to run for congressman in the new fifth district.

In sponsoring the bill, Sen. Robert Barbers cited statistics that Angeles City has a population of 263,971, based on the 2000 census.

Under the law, a city with a population of at least 250,000 is entitled to at least one representative in Congress.

The 2000 census also showed that Mabalacat had a population of 171,045, and Magalang, 77,530.

Barbers, however, argued that "proceeding for the sake of argument that the left-over Pampanga district (Ma-galang and Mabalacat), indeed, does not meet the supposed population threshold, this may be true only statistically and not in actuality because the figure is based on the 2000 census or three years ago."

He said the National Statistics Office earlier noted that Magalang has a population growth of 8.66 percent, and Mabalacat 6.05 percent, and that by 2001, the combined population of the two towns was already estimated at 251,060.

The bill’s passage in time for the May 2004 elections is expected to trigger changes in the political plans of local leaders.

Provincial leaders of the ruling Lakas-CMD (Christian Muslim Democrats) party have announced that Guiao would be the vice gubernatorial running mate of Gov. Lito Lapid’s son Mark, and Morales the party’s re-electionist in Mabalacat.

Both, however, said they would run for congressman in the new fifth district with the passage of SB 2441.