Transfer of PH capital sought

BACOLOD CITY—Negros Occidental Rep. Alfredo Abelardo Benitez has filed a bill seeking a study on the feasibility of relocating the capital and seat of government of the Philippines outside Metro Manila.

The proposed Administrative Capital City Planning Act of 2016 calls for the creation of an administrative capital city planning commission to conduct the study.

“Overpopulation, traffic congestion and high vulnerability to natural disasters have made Metropolitan Manila or the National Capital Region a pariah among world cities,” Benitez said in his explanatory note to the measure.

He cited the data from the Philippine Statistics Authority that showed 11.9 million people were living in Metro Manila in 2010.

“Metro Manila also sits [on] a fault line which could trigger … a destructive earthquake,” he said.

Relocation of capitals had been done by several countries, he said, citing Malaysia, which built a new administrative capital to decongest Kuala Lumpur. Carla P. Gomez, Inquirer Visayas