Deputy Speaker Arnulfo Fuentebella, principal author of House Bill No. 4820 seeking the creation of the new province of Nueva Camarines from the fourth and fifth districts of Camarines Sur, on Tuesday said his bill had nothing to do with the feud between father and son Villafuertes.
“Nueva Camarines is all about uplifting the people of the 16 towns and one city comprising the Partido and fifth districts from poverty and giving them a better future,” Fuentebella said in a statement sent to the Inquirer.
Fuentebella, representing the fourth district of Camarines Sur, said the new province is expected to be classified as another first-class province with its estimated annual revenues matching those of CamSur.
“The idea of Nueva Camarines is no spur-of-the-moment thing,” he said. “It is the product of rigorous and detailed studies.”
The Fuentebella bill, coauthored by three other CamSur congressmen, namely Representatives Luis R. Villafuerte Sr., Rolando Andaya Jr. and Dato Arroyo, was overwhelmingly approved by the House recently by a vote of 229-1, with CamSur Fifth District Rep. Salvio Fortuno casting the lone dissenting vote.
“The so-called family feud among the Villafuertes did not figure at all in my bill. This is a purely socioeconomic issue, not a political one,” Fuentebella said.