CAMSUR partition bill easily passes lower house plenary, 229-1

NAGA CITY (August 5, 2011) - The House of Representatives in an almost unanimous vote affirmed in a plenary session the passage of a bill that seeks to carve out a new province from Camarines Sur.

House Bill 4820 originally authored by Camarines Sur 4th district Congressman Arnulfo Fuentebella proposes to create a new province, Nueva Camarines, out the 4th and 5th districts of Camarines Sur.

Fuentebella filed the bill at the lower house as House Bill 4782 back in May this year. In its present form, House Bill 4820 includes changes made during the partition bill's hearings at the House committee level.

According to third district Congressman Luis R. Villafuerte (LRV), 229 congressmen voted affirmatively and 1 voted against the bill in a nominal voting. The lone opposing vote came from Camarines Sur fourth district Congressman Salvio Furtuno who has been vocal from the start in his opposition to the partitioning of the province. Fortuno supports the position of Governor L-Ray Villafuerte who maintains that the province should be left undivided to keep the momentum of progress going.

Father and son poles apart on the issue, Congressman LRV confirmed that he and other supporters of the partition of the province have started lobbying for the support of their friends in the Senate that is expected to soon start its own deliberation of the bill.

Senator Bongbong Marcos, chairman of Local Government Committee, who is reportedly sympathetic to the bill’s proponents will preside over the initial committee-level deliberation of the bill at the Senate. Before going to the Senate plenary, a bill is deliberated at the appropriate committee where its opponents shall have the chance to be heard.

Sources have confirmed that Camarines Sur Governor L-Ray Villafuerte shall vigorously oppose the bill’s passage at the Senate. He earlier opposed the bill at the lower house but did not gain much support. (With report from Noriel Oya)