LUCENA CITY, Philippines -- After suffering defeat during the recent plebiscite on the proposed division of Quezon province into two separate political units, Representative Lorenzo "Erin" Tañada III (LP, 3rd District) vowed to file another bill to continue his crusade to uplift the lives of his poor province mates.

"The defeat is just a temporary setback. I plan to file another bill in the future," Tañada told the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net) in a phone interview Monday.

The controversial Republic Act 9495 that aims to divide Quezon into two separate provinces had been rejected in the plebiscite held last December 13.

Lawyer Allan Enriquez, chief of the Commission of Election in Quezon, said the opposition received a total of 205,265 'No' votes while those in favor only posted 157,457 'Yes' votes, or a difference of 47,808 votes.

The results showed that voters from the province's 3rd and 4th districts approved the creation of Quezon del Sur, which would have been comprised of 23 towns from the two districts.

However, the 'No' votes from the province's 1st and 2nd districts overtook the 'Yes' lead in the Bondoc Peninsula (3rd district) and Lamon Bay (4th district) areas.

Tañada explained that filing another bill to divide the province into Quezon del Sur and Quezon del Norte is "legally feasible" despite its recent rejection by the people in the plebiscite.

"It will just have to go the same process in both chambers in Congress and a plebiscite. The bill will not be filed immediately but maybe between five to ten years," he said.

He quickly added: "Of course, the most important element in the equation is whether or not I am still a representative during that period".

With a standing order from the Supreme Court preventing the Comelec from officially proclaiming the results of the plebiscite, the provincial agency could not officially declare the winner.

"The Supreme Court order still remains," Enriquez said.

Lawyer Frumencio Pulgar of the Save Quezon Province Movement, one of the anti-Quezon split groups that asked the high tribunal to stop the plebiscite on grounds of constitutional infirmities of some provisions of RA 9495, said he would withdraw the petition to remove the legal obstacles in the proclamation of the winner.

Tañada hopes that after the plebiscite, the people will reap better services and benefits from the provincial government, whoever the governor may be.

"The challenge to provide better services and benefits lies now with the provincial government that boasts of its resources as a solitary province," Tañada said.

Meanwhile, Representative Proceso Alcala (LP, 2nd District) refuted a report that he had changed his neutral stand and supported the rejection of RA 9495 on the eve of the plebiscite.

"The report that I supported 'No' at the last minute was not true. It was a blatant lie. I maintained my neutral stand until the end of the plebiscite," he told the Inquirer over the phone the next day after the plebiscite.

During the plebiscite, the Inquirer was informed of Alcala's change of stand from the lawmaker's trusted men. The information was also confirmed by Lucena Bishop Emilio Marquez, Representatives Tañada and Danilo Suarez (3rd District), all ardent campaigners for 'Yes' votes.

The Inquirer tried but failed to get Alcala's comment on the reports. The lawmaker admitted shutting off his phone during the plebiscite.

However, Alcala did not refute the report that his own staff had actively participated in the "No" campaign.

"I gave them freedom to decide on their own," he explained.

Alcala said that if he really supported the rejection of RA 9495, he could have contributed more votes to the opposition.

The political exercise was reportedly marred by massive vote-buying particularly in the central parts of the province.

The 'No' campaigners had been accused by the 'Yes' advocates of massive vote buying, which the leaders of the opposition denied.

Quezon has about 900,000 voters but according to the Comelec only about one third of the whole voting population participated in the plebiscite.