Bills dividing Maguindanao into two get Senate panels’ OK

Senators Sherwin Gatchalian and Francis Tolentino lead the Senate joint panels in approving bills splitting the province of Maguindanao into two. Screenshot from the Senate of the Philippines YouTube live stream.

Update

MANILA, Philippines — Various measures seeking to split the existing province of Maguindanao into two were approved on Monday by a Senate joint panel.

Upon Senator Sherwin Gatchalian’s motion, the Senate committee on local government joined with electoral reforms and people’s participation approved House Bill No. 6413 and several counterpart bills in the Senate that would divide the province into two — Northern Maguindanao and Southern Maguindanao.

Under the proposals, 24 of 36 municipalities of the province would be under the Southern Maguindanao while the remaining 12 municipalities would be covered by Northern Maguindanao.

The province of Southern Maguindanao will be composed of the following:

Ampatuan

Buluan

Datu Abdulah Sangki

Datu Anggal Midtimbang

Datu Hofier Ampatuan

Datu Montawal

Datu Paglas

Datu Piang

Datu Salibo

Datu Saudi Ampatuan

Datu Unsay

Gen. Saiipada K. Pendatun

Guindulungan

Mamasapano

Pagalungan

Mangudadatu

Paglat

Pandag

Rajah Buayan

Sharif Aguak

Sharif Saydona Mustafa

Sultan sa Barongis

Talayan;

and, South Upi

The 12 municipalities under the Northern Maguindanao would be the following:

Barira

Buldon

Datu Blah Sinsuat

Datu Odin Sinsuat

Kabuntalan

Matanog

Northern Kabuntalan

Parang

North Upi

Sultan Kudarat

Sultan Mastura;

and, Talitay

“Not all redistricting is harmful. New jurisdictions may be warranted if the population has grown big enough and that preferences for public goods have become sufficiently heterogeneous,” Maguindanao Rep. Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu, one of the proponents of the measures, said in his manifestation during the hearing.

Senator Francis ‘Tol’ Tolentino, meanwhile, lamented that the existing province, despite its “rich and abundant natural resources,” remains to be “one of the poorest provinces” in the country.

As of 2015, the current undivided Maguindanao has a total population of 1,173,933.

“Reforms must be done in order to remedy this predicament and one way to ensure this is by splitting the province into two,” Tolentino, chairman of the local government committee and one of the authors of the bills in the Senate, said during the hearing.

In moving for the approval of the measures, Gatchalian noted that the bills would still be subject to discussions in the Technical Working Group (TWG), to resolve the issue of where the “capital should be.”

“Just to move the bills forward, I move to approve the said measures and transition to a TWG,” he said.

In a press release, Tolentino explained that under the proposals Buluan would be the administrative capital of Southern Maguindanao while Sultan Kudarat would be the capital of Northern Maguindanao.

Senator Imee Marcos seconded Gatchalian’s motion, while Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa abstained from voting.

A consolidated measure will then be reported to the Senate plenary for consideration.

[edv, ac]