Lawmaker hits smear drive on creation of Nueva Camarines

MANILA, Philippines - Camarines Sur Rep. Arnulfo Fuentebella slammed yesterday what he called a “disinformation drive” on the bill creating the province of Nueva Camarines from the fourth and fifth districts of Camarines Sur (CamSur).

Fuentebella deplored the “disinformation, half-truths and outright lies being aired” against the creation of the new province under House Bill 4728 which has been superseded by substitute HB 4820 that already embodies the committee amendments which he authored.

“We are in effect creating two first-class provinces according to the figures of the Bureau of Local Government Finance. The mother province CamSur has an average income for the past four years of P733 million and the proposed Nueva Camarines may also become a first-class province due to the resulting computed average income for four years of P591 million,” Fuentebella said.

He pointed out there is nothing in his bill that would stifle the growth as complementary tourism destinations of the CamSur Watersports Complex in Pili and the beach-resort attractions of the Caramoan Islands, saying they have the potential of surpassing their present tourist arrival figures as they would be better managed.

“The ones doing a disservice to tourism in the province are those in CamSur who entice wakeboarding enthusiasts to forego CWC and to patronize other wakeboarding facilities. As to Caramoan, it is a top attraction unto itself because its beaches are among the very best in the world,” Fuentebella said.

He also branded as “dubious” a claim made by a foreign-funded study that creating a new province in the Philippines would allegedly cost P789 million.

Fuentebella said the creation of Nueva Camarines enjoys unequivocal support from four out of five congressmen from CamSur, 24 out of 35 mayors of the entire province, as well as wide support from the people of CamSur.

He said those opposing the creation of the new province are “bereft of legitimate issues to raise so they are resorting to character assassination instead of facing the issues head-on.”

The towns included in the proposed Province of Nueva Camarines are (4th District) Caramoan, Garchitorena, Goa, Presentacion, Siruma, Sagnay, San Jose, Tigaon, Tinambac; (5th District) Balatan, Baao, Bato, Buhi, Bula, Nabua and Iriga City.

Fuentebella said both Nueva Camarines and CamSur pass the legal requirements (Section 461 of the Local Government Code of 1991 or RA 7160) for the creation of a new province.

These requirements are: the average income in the last two years of the province to be created is not less than P20M based on 1991 figures; its population is not less than 250,000; and its land area is not less than 2,000 square kilometers.

Other conditions were also been met, added Fuentebella. These are: the division does not reduce the income, population or land area of the mother province to less than the minimum requirements of Republic Act 7160; and the income classification of the mother province shall not fall below its current classification prior to such division.