Robredo mum on proposed splitting of home province

MANILA, Philippines—Interior Secretary Jesse M. Robredo is keeping secret his position on a controversial measure to split his home province of Camarines Sur, an issue that has divided Bicolanos, including members of the influential Villafuerte clan.

Robredo said he would rather not make his views known on the proposal to divide Camarines Sur and carve out a new province out of its fourth and fifth congressional districts to be called “Nueva Camarines.”

“I am with the government and anything I say may be taken the wrong way,” Robredo said. “I don’t want the issue to be colored” by internal politics in the province, he added.

The bill was passed on third and final reading in the House of Representatives.

Robredo’s uncle, Camarines Representative Luis Robredo Villafuerte, who was his patron until a bitter parting of ways in the early 1990s, is pushing for the measure he co-authored with Representative Deputy Speaker Arnulfo Fuentebella and Diosdado “Dato” Arroyo.

But Villafuerte’s son and Robredo’s cousin, Camarines Sur Governor Luis Raymond “LRay” Villafuerte Jr. is staunchly against it.

The proposed new province will combine the 10 towns in the fourth district with six towns and a city in the fifth district of Camarines Sur province. Supporters of the bill say the new province will promote better governance, but opponents believe it will only result in two weak territories.

Robredo served for six terms as mayor of Naga City, an independent city in Camarines Sur. He was a protégé of his uncle, the older Villafuerte, before they had a falling out.

He also previously tussled with the younger Villafuerte on some issues, including the government’s full disclosure policy, which requires local government units to be transparent in their budget and finances.

The Villafuerte father and son have fought in the past over various issues, the latest being in the last presidential elections when the two backed different candidates for president.