The governor of Palawan, Jose Alvarez, is campaigning hard for a yes vote, among the 490,639 registered voters, come March 21 on the question of splitting the province into three: Palawan del Norte, Palawan Oriental, and Palawan del Sur. The Palawenos will decide this in accordance with Republic Act 11259, signed by President Duterte on April 5, 2019. The plebiscite was originally scheduled on May 11, 2020 but was postponed several times due to lockdowns.
The incumbent public officials are pushing hard for this split in order to hasten the development of our westernmost frontier which is the first to be directly affected by the broiling troubles in the West Philippines Sea. They say that once divided, the north shall focus on its very rich tourism destinations, known worldwide including El Nido and Coron. The east and central part shall leverage its agri and aqua resources with virgin forests and pristine inland waterfalls and rivers. The south has very rich natural resources including nickel mining in Rio Tuba. The proponents have a master plan, and a road map with timetables. The oppositors call this move a shameless gerrymandering during a pandemic. To them, it’s just a convenient sharing of political turfs among traditional political titans of Palawan.
The difference between the move to split Palawan and the Sugbuak is that most of the proponents for splitting Cebu are dead and the incumbent Cebuano top officials oppose it. Governor Gwen Garcia is a staunch defender of One Cebu to the extent that she has made it the name of her political aggrupation. In Palawan, the current political leadership led by Governor Alvarez, is strongly campaigning to split the province. He has a master plan. And the way I look at it, this split is going to be ratified by majority. If all the 207,878 who voted for Alvarez in the last election support him on this, plus most of the 172,455 who opted to skip voting for governor, it’s predicted an affirmative result is likely. Only 42,954 voted for his opponent who is actively campaigning against the splitting.
Palawan and Cebu aren’t comparable. Palawan is the biggest in area among the 82 provinces with 14,650 square kilometers, Cebu has only 4,948.72. That’s the biggest argument against Sugbuak. But in population, Cebu has 4,632,359 including the highly-urbanized cities of Cebu, Mandaue, and Lapu-Lapu. Palawan has only 849,468, which is smaller than Cebu City's population of about a million and counting. In area, the ten biggest provinces, in descending order are: Palawan, Isabela, Bukidnon, Agusan del Sur, Cagayan, Quezon, Cotabato, Negros Occidental, Zamboanga del Norte and Davao del Sur. The ten biggest in population, also in a descending order are: Cebu, Cavite, Bulacan, Laguna, Pangasinan, Rizal, batangas, Negros Occidental, Pampanga, and Nueva Ecija.
In terms of assets, the ten biggest provinces are: Cebu, Rizal, Negros Occidental, Batangas, Bulacan, Palawan, Iloilo, Laguna, Nueva Ecija and Leyte. Based on income, the top ten are Cebu, Compostela Valley (renamed Davao de Oro due its rich gold deposits), Batangas, Rizal, Bukidnon, Negros Occidental, Laguna, Iloilo, Palawan and Zambales. If we argue on the basis of wealth and people, Cebu should be split. The reasons are: first, unequal development because infrastructures and budgets are poured into the places where the ruling class resides. Second, the hinterlands and outlying areas are neglected because less voters are residing there. Third, politicians control the development and their assets are in the urban centers. There should be one state university and one state medical center in each of the congressional districts. The trapos have failed to deliver these basic infrastructures.
In terms of assets, income, and population, not just area, Cebu should be divided into three. Where to draw the boundaries, I don’t know but it’s time to spread the focus of development. Cebu is progressive but not developed. The fruits of progress are concentrated on the controlling elite and in the urban centers. Progress for the rich and burdens for the poor. The south remains very poor even if the governor and the vice governor are from the south. Those who oppose Sugbuak were the ones who split the old second district, resulting in the second and the seventh districts becoming the poorest among Cebu districts. They just split the paramecium and left it lying without developmental interventions. It might soon die there. It’s not just a matter of splitting. There must be a master plan. I haven’t seen any. Palawan is ready, while our leaders think Cebu isn’t. I think I know the reason why.