Villafuertes face off in Senate hearing on Camarines Sur bill

MANILA, Philippines – Rep. Luis Villafuerte and his son, last-term Camarines Sur Gov. L-Ray Villafuerte, faced off yesterday during the hearing of the Senate committee on local government on the proposed creation of Nueva Camarines, which would technically divide Camarines Sur province.

“Our rebuttal to this argument of the oppositor is misleading… that denigrates the intelligence of the people of Camarines who will evaluate the merits or demerits of the division of the province. This argument is a gross misrepresentation of the poor,” Rep. Villafuerte said.

“Who is the poor? (There is a) high percentage of incidence of poverty even in so-called rich provinces?” he added. 

The congressman was explaining his position on the counterpart measure of House Bill 4820 on the creation of Nueva Camarines, providing for a new congressional district once Congress passes it into law.

His own son, Gov. Villafuerte, though is the proposal’s main critic.

“In deliberately making false complaint, the oppositors can’t cite a single province that went kaput or went bankrupt, or did not survive for lack of financial viability. We have yet to hear of a province created by a plebiscite that complains of their division,” Rep. Villafuerte said.

He cited the example of Rizal province that was divided into several units based on a decree of the late President Ferdinand Marcos, whose son, Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., now heads of the Senate committee on local government.

The congressman said Rizal was then a huge, highly populated province, and the cities of Las Piñas, Pasig and Mandaluyong that were carved out of it, among other local government units, have become progressive.

“Yet the province, did (it) become economically depressed? No. Did it lose financial viability? No,” he said.

When he was given time to rebut his father’s statements, Gov. Villafuerte said many of his constituents as well as barangay captains and majority of the board members are against the proposal.

He even challenged the proponents of Nueva Camarines to just bring the issue before the people in next year’s local elections. Father and son and Rep. Arnulfo Fuentebella, who is also pushing for the new province, are on their last terms.

He went on to say that he learned so much from his father. “This is a contentious issue, I can’t explain any further…,” he said, then asked his supporters in the gallery to stand up one by one and manifest their support a single Camarines Sur province.

At one point, Rep. Villafuerte even accused his own son of being a lame-duck governor. “The trouble is, he does not fight me. He’s a lame duck,” he said.

Gov. Villafuerte told reporters after the hearing that he continues to respect his father even if they have differed on various issues in their political careers.  “The family remains a family,” he said, expressing hope that he and his father would settle their gap in the end.

Meanwhile, Gov. Villafuerte expressed concern that the Department of Budget and Management has certified that there are no funds for a plebiscite once the measure on Nueva Camarines is passed.

“I suggest to defer discussion on the merits until specific funding is made available, as certified by national treasury… We will be passing what will turn out to be an unfunded law,” he said.

Marcos said he was more concerned not about the infighting but the announcement of Commission on Elections Chairman Sixto Brillantes and Budget Secretary Florencio Abad that there are no funds set aside for the plebiscite on the proposed division of Camarines Sur into two provinces.