Businessman Jamal Kanan said during the “Ikaw Na Ba? Local Candidates Interview” of dxGM Super Radyo Davao on Tuesday, February 22, 2022, that adding another district in the city would just be an additional cost for the City Government.
“Hindi na kailangan yan, kasi dagdag pasahod lang yan. Nagtitipid tayo. Imbes na ipapasahod pa natin, isang congressman lang, pwede na. Liit-liit lang naman ng Davao,” Kanan said, emphasizing that it would be additional expenses coming from the taxpayer’s money.
(I think it’s not necessary because it would just add to the City’s expenses. We are trying to save. Even just one congressional district is already enough. Davao City is a small area. We are just adding costs on people to give wages.)
He said the city needs more income sources by means of attracting additional investments.
For Maria Victoria “Mags” Maglana, the city is qualified to add a district.
“Kung tan-awon nato, ang minimum requirement para mag-create og usa ka congressional district kay 250,000 man. So kung kana lang ang batayan ba, given nga naa kay 1.7 million nga population, murag, muingon nga o, kaya raman mag-create og additional congressional district,” Maglana said.
(If we look at it, the minimum requirement to create a congressional district is a total population of 250,000. Based on that and given the 1.7 million population, we can say that we can create an additional congressional district.)
However, she questioned the need for an additional district, adding that it is uncertain how a fourth district would address problems.
“Kung ang problema para dili na mag-away-away ang mga politiko kay mahatagan silag laing area kung asa sila mudagan, dili ko mu-uyon ana. Kay pasabot ana, ang gina-sulbad lang nato ang problema sa mga traditional politicians,” Maglana said.
(But if the creation of a new district would address the political rivalries in the city for them to be given an area wherein they can run for elections, I am not in favor of it. Because it means we are solving the problem of traditional politicians.)
Davao City Councilor Danilo Dayanghirang first revealed the plan for the city to add another district.
Dayanghirang, in a previous report, said the city is qualified for an additional district based on Section 5, Article VI of the 1987 Philippine Constitution.
Under the law, “Congress shall make a reapportion of legislative districts based on the standards fixed in this selection.”
One of the provisions of the law states that a legislative district must have a minimum population of 250,000.
According to the 2020 census of population and house of the Philippine Statistics Authority, Davao City’s population already reached more than 1.7 million.
Dayanghirang said the proposal, which was recommended by the City Planning Development Office, aims to effectively deliver the programs and services of the local government.
Dayanghirang also clarified that no additional funding will be given to the City Government, except that a budget will be allocated to the congressional representative of the new district.
“The issue is who will pay the additional expenses of the new councilor’s operation. But it will add in terms of pork-barrel coming from the congressman which is P200 million,” he said.
He said there is a possibility that the number of councilors per district will be downsized from the current eight to six, to comply with the total number of city councilors serving, which is 24.
There is no update yet if the proposal was already filed before the House of Representatives.
Meanwhile, Kanan and Maglana are running against incumbent First District Representative Paolo Duterte and Jovanie Cadao Mantawel for the position in the 2022 elections.