Bulacan voters will elect 7 House representatives in May

CITY OF MALOLOS, Bulacan, Philippines — Bulacan voters will elect not just five but seven House representatives in the May 9 elections under a law approved last year creating two new congressional districts in the province.

But some officials were batting for more, saying that based on the population of Bulacan, there should at least be eight or 12 congressional districts.

Republic Act No. 11546 signed into law by President Duterte on May 26, 2021, created the fifth and sixth districts from the previous four congressional divisions in the province. The existing lone district of the City of San Jose del Monte, a component city of Bulacan, was left untouched.

Under the current congressional setup, the first district would continue to include the City of Malolos and the towns of Hagonoy, Calumpit, Pulilan, Paombong, and Bulakan.

The second district, however, would only retain the towns of Baliwag, Plaridel, and Bustos since its former territories — the towns of Guiguinto, Balagtas, Pandi, and Bocaue — now belong to the fifth district.

As for the third district, it retained only the towns of San Miguel, San Ildefonso, San Rafael, and Doña Remedios Trinidad.

The towns that previously belonged to the third district—Angat and Norzagaray—were now under the newly created sixth district. Also included in the sixth district was the town of Sta. Maria, which used to belong to the fourth district.

Only the towns of Obando and Marilao and the City of Meycauayan remain under the fourth district.

For former Malolos Mayor Danilo Domingo, the City of Malolos should be separated from the first district and turned into a lone congressional area like the City of San Jose del Monte.

In the early 2000s, a measure creating the Malolos district was filed in Congress only to be struck down by the Supreme Court.

Domingo said that since the first district had a combined population of 717,000 based on the 2020 census, it should have two congressmen as prescribed by law.

He added that Bulakan town, where the New Manila International Airport was being constructed, could become part of the fourth or fifth district because it was adjacent to the towns of Guiguinto and Obando.

On the other hand, Guiguinto Mayor Ambrosio Cruz Jr., president of the Bulacan Municipal Mayors League, believed that with the province’s population of 3.7 million, it was entitled to as many as 12 districts.

“I’ve discussed that many years ago—that Bulacan qualifies for more and not only six, seven, or eight representatives in Congress. But the problem is that Bulacan’s first district was not touched by the redistricting,” he said.