Solon wants Ecija divided into 2 provs

BY LIAM ANACLETO

CABANATUAN CITY – A Nueva Ecija congressman has proposed to divide the province, the biggest of the seven provinces in Central Luzon, into two separate provinces to hasten its development.

First district Rep. Eduardo Nonato Joson said he would file a bill in the House of Representatives to create a Nueva Ecija Norte and Nueva Ecija Sur.

Joson said he urged his proposal to his fellow Novo Ecijano lawmakers to drum up support for clustering of the four congressional districts into two distinct provinces.

Of the two other Nueva Ecijano lawmakers, he said only second district Rep. Joseph Violago appears supportive to his proposal. He hinted that Gov. Aurelio Umali may not like his proposal as it would reduce his turf.

“Of course, kung ikaw ang nakaupo, di ka papabor (if you are the incumbent, you would not favor it),” he said.

Joson, a former governor whose family lorded over the Capitol for 48 years until the clan’s setback in the May 2007 gubernatorial race, said Nueva Ecija, with 27 municipalities and five cities comprising 850 barangays, is too big, making it extremely difficult for any administration to spur its development.

The Josons have been accused by their political rivals of allegedly causing Nueva Ecija’s economic stagnation, despite it being a member of the so-called “billionaire’s club” among the country’s provinces. The term refers to the provinces whose Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) shares reach at least a billion pesos.

Joson said half of Nueva Ecija’s barangays would have been sufficient to create another province.

“Ideally, dapat 450 barangays lang ang nagko-comprise sa isang probinsiya (only 450 barangays should comprise a province),” he said, likening Nueva Ecija’s situation to Quezon province which has 40 municipalities.

Quezon Gov. Rafael Nantes also initiated a similar move to divide his province into two when he was still a congressman.

Joson, an uncle of Vice Gov. Edward Thomas, said he is looking at the possibility of dividing the province either horizontally or vertically.

“By horizontal, it would mean clustering of the first and second congressional districts into one province and the third and fourth congressional districts into another province,” he said.

The vertical option, he said, is to carve out the two provinces by clustering the first and fourth congressional districts into one and the second and third congressional districts into another.

The first district, the Josons’ bailiwick, is composed of the towns of Aliaga, Guimba, Cuyapo, Sto. Domingo, Licab, Talavera, Zaragoza, and Quezon, their hometown.

Comprising the second district are the towns of Talugtog, Nampicuan, Pantabangan, Llanera, Rizal, and Lupao and the cities of Muñoz and San Jose.

The third district, the bailiwick of Umali and his wife, Rep. Czareina Umali, is made up of the towns of Bongabon, Gen. Natividad, Laur, Gabaldon and Sta. Rosa and the cities of Cabanatuan and Palayan, while the fourth district is composed of the towns of San Leonardo, San Antonio, San Isidro, Jaen, Peñaranda, Gen. Tinio, and Cabiao and Gapan City.

Of the four districts, only the first district does not have a component city.