NEWSFLASH

CREATE 2 PROVINCES FROM ORIENTAL MINDORO?

Calapan City, April 19, 2000 - Oriental Mindoro political kingpins are asking the Senate to shelve a controversial bill that seeks to divide the island province into two new and distinct provinces.

"Please listen to and respect the majority of our people who have spoken," said Oriental Mindoro Gov. Rodolfo G. Valencia, who made the appeal at a public hearing last week on Senate Bill 1635. The proposed law seeks to carve out a new province to be called Mindoro del Sur.

"After all the arguments for and against have been heard, our position is that the Senate should shelve the bill. Approving the bill and subjecting it to a plebiscite will be a futile and costly exercise," said Florante Villarica, president of the Oriental Mindoro chapter of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Jose Leuterio, chair of the Oriental Mindoro Tourism Council, observed that a plebiscite on the creation of a new province will drain the "already scant resources" of the government.

Valencia said dividing Oriental Mindoro into two provinces would result in a total budget deficit of P100 million.

He also claimed that studies conducted by the Department of the Interior and Local Government showed the creation of a new and distinct province would cost the government at least P225 million.