Political Developments,First Quarter of 2011,Part III:Bukidnon del Sur Province Moves Closer to Reality

The movement to subdivide Bukidnon Province first took shape in the early-1980s.In the quarter century since the idea has never been far from the surface of provincial discourse.The idea is to first create a 4th Congressional District and then,after District re-configuration,divide the 2 Districts into 2 separate provinces,Bukidnon and Bukidnon del Sur.As I was discussing in my recent entry,"Political Developments,First Quarter of 2011,Part I,"the Local Government Code of 1991 sets a few watermarks,or pre-requisites,for the establishment of a new province.A potential province must have a minimum area of 2,000 square kilometers,a minimum population of 250,000 and a minimum income of P20 Million for the 2 consecutive years immediately preceeding the initiative.Bukidnon is now at the point where it could meet these requirements easily.

On March 15th,2011 the 3 Congressmen from Bukidnon took concrete steps to bring the idea to fruition by filing a Bill to create the province's 4th Congressional District.The principle author of the Bill comes as no suprise,Third District Congressman Jose Zubiri III,scion of that province's leading political dynasty,the Zubiri Clan .The plan has been a Zubiri Clan pet project for more than 2 decades.Zubiri,along with First District's Emmanuel Paras and Second District's Florencio Flores Jr.plan to anchor the Fourth District with Valencia City,currently within the Second District.

Along with Valencia City,the towns of:

1) Pangantucan,currently in the First District

2) Kadingilan,currently in the Third District

will compose the new Fourth District.


The re-configured First District will include:

1) Impasug-ong,now in Second District

2) Talakag

3) Libona

4) Sumilao

5) Manolo Fortich

6) Baungon

with an overall population of 283,128.


The re-configured Second District will include:

1) Malaybalay City

2) Lantapan

3) Cabanglasan

4) San Fernando

with an overall population of 272,883,down from its current population of nearly 500,000.

The re-configured Third District will include:

1) Quezon

2) Kibabe

3) Kitaotao

4) Maramag

5) Don Carlos

6) Damulog

7) Dangcagan

with an overall population of 357,498,which will make it the largest of the 4 envisioned Districts.

Of all LGU (Local Government Unit,as in towns,cities and provinces) officials in Bukidnon,only 2 have expressed reservations of any kind.The Mayor of Pangantucan only had a slight reservation which was quickly dispelled but the Mayor of Impasug-ong,Mario Okinlay,isn't happy about his town being re-districted.Of course that isn't the same as taking issue with the overall plan,merely his municipality's placement within that larger scheme.

It seems that the Fourth District will finally be realised and with it the new province is assured.