Legislative districts of Palawan

The legislative districts of Palawan are the representations of the province of Palawan and the highly urbanized city of Puerto Princesa in the various national legislatures of the Philippines. The province and the city are currently represented in the lower house of the Congress of the Philippines through their first, second, and third congressional districts.

History

Palawan initially comprised a single assembly district from 1907 to 1972. When seats for the upper house of the Philippine Legislature were elected from territory-based districts between 1916 and 1935, the province formed part of the eighth senatorial district which elected two out of the 24-member senate.

In the disruption caused by the Second World War, two delegates represented the province in the National Assembly of the Japanese-sponsored Second Philippine Republic: one was the provincial governor (an ex officio member), while the other was elected through a provincial assembly of KALIBAPI members during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines. Upon the restoration of the Philippine Commonwealth in 1945, the province continued to comprise a lone district.

The province was represented in the Interim Batasang Pambansa as part of Region IV-A from 1978 to 1984, and elected one representative, at large, to the Regular Batasang Pambansa in 1984. Palawan was reapportioned into two congressional districts under the new Constitution[1] which was proclaimed on February 11, 1987, and elected members to the restored House of Representatives starting that same year.

The passage of Republic Act No. 10171 in 2012 separated Puerto Princesa and Aborlan from the second district to form the third district,[2] which first elected its own representative in the 2013 elections.

1st District

1st District of Palawan

• Municipalities: Agutaya, Araceli, Busuanga, Cagayancillo, Coron, Culion, Cuyo, Dumaran, El Nido, Kalayaan, Linapacan, Magsaysay, Roxas, San Vicente, Taytay
• Population (2015): 415,230[3]

Period	Representative
8th Congress 1987–1992	David A. Ponce de Leon
9th Congress 1992–1995
10th Congress 1995–1998	Vicente A. Sandoval
11th Congress 1998–2001
12th Congress 2001–2004
13th Congress 2004–2007	Antonio C. Alvarez
14th Congress 2007–2010
15th Congress 2010–2013
16th Congress 2013–2016	Franz Josef George E. Alvarez
17th Congress 2016–2019
18th Congress 2019–2022

2nd District

• Municipalities: Balabac, Bataraza, Brooke's Point, Narra, Quezon, Rizal, Sofronio Española
• Population (2015): 399,148[3]

Period	Representative
16th Congress 2013–2016	Frederick F. Abueg
17th Congress 2016–2019
18th Congress 2019–2022	Cyrille F. Abueg-Zaldivar

1987–2013

2nd District of Palawan, from 1987 to 2013

• City: Puerto Princesa[lower-alpha 1]
• Municipalities: Aborlan, Balabac, Bataraza, Brooke's Point, Narra, Quezon, Rizal (Marcos), Sofronio Española (established 1994)

Period	Representative
8th Congress 1987–1992	Ramon V. Mitra, Jr.
9th Congress 1992–1995	Alfredo Amor E. Abueg, Jr.
10th Congress 1995–1998
11th Congress 1998–2001
12th Congress 2001–2004	Abraham Kahlil B. Mitra
13th Congress 2004–2007
14th Congress 2007–2010
15th Congress 2010–2013	Victorino Dennis M. Socrates

Notes

1. Declared highly-urbanized city through Presidential Proclamation No. 1264,[4] affirmed by plebiscite held on July 9, 2007;[5] only votes with Palawan for congressional representation beginning in the 2010 elections. Independent from the province and does not vote for provincial officials in accordance with Section 452-c of the Local Government Code of 1991.[6]

3rd District

• City: Puerto Princesa[lower-alpha 1]
• Municipalities: Aborlan
• Population (2015): 290,207[3]

Period	Representative
16th Congress 2013–2016	Douglas S. Hagedorn
17th Congress 2016–2019	Gil P. Acosta
18th Congress 2019–2022	Gil A. Acosta Jr.

Notes

1. Declared highly-urbanized city through Presidential Proclamation No. 1264,[4] affirmed by plebiscite held on July 9, 2007;[5] only votes with Palawan for congressional representation beginning in the 2010 elections. Independent from the province and does not vote for provincial officials in accordance with Section 452-c of the Local Government Code of 1991.[6]

Lone District (defunct)

Period	Representative
1st Philippine Legislature 1907–1909	Santiago M. Patero
2nd Philippine Legislature 1909–1912	Manuel Sandoval
3rd Philippine Legislature 1912–1916
4th Philippine Legislature 1916–1919
5th Philippine Legislature 1919–1922	Ramon De Jesus
6th Philippine Legislature 1922–1925	Patricio Fernandez
7th Philippine Legislature 1925–1928
8th Philippine Legislature 1928–1931
9th Philippine Legislature 1931–1934	Claudio R. Sandoval
10th Philippine Legislature 1934–1935
1st National Assembly 1935–1938
2nd National Assembly 1938–1941
1st Commonwealth Congress 1945	Sofronio Española
1st Congress 1946–1949
2nd Congress 1949–1953	Gaudencio E. Abordo[lower-alpha 1]
	Sofronio Española
3rd Congress 1953–1957	Gaudencio E. Abordo
4th Congress 1957–1961
5th Congress 1961–1965
6th Congress 1965–1969	Ramon V. Mitra, Jr.[lower-alpha 2]
7th Congress 1969–1972
	vacant

Notes

1. Replaced by Sofronio Española as per House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal decision on March 6, 1953.
2. Elected to the Senate in 1971.

At-Large (defunct)

1943–1944

Period	Representative
National Assembly 1943–1944	Iñigo R. Peña
	Patricio Fernandez (ex officio)

1984–1986

Period	Representative
Regular Batasang Pambansa 1984–1986	Ramon V. Mitra, Jr.

References

1. "1987 Constitution of the Philippines - Apportionment Ordinance". Retrieved June 13, 2016.
2. Congress of the Philippines (July 19, 2012). "Republic Act No. 10171". Retrieved August 10, 2016.
3. https://psa.gov.ph/sites/default/files/attachments/hsd/pressrelease/2015_Table%201_Legislative%20Districts.xlsx
4. "Presidential Proclamation No. 1264 - Conversion of the City of Puerto Princesa into a highly-urbanized city". January 23, 2007. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
5. "Presidential Proclamation No. 1323 - Declaring Monday, July 9, 2007, as Special (Non-Working) day in the City of Puerto Princesa". July 4, 2007. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
6. Congress of the Philippines (October 10, 1991). "Republic Act No. 7160 - An Act providing for a Local Government Code of 1991". Retrieved August 9, 2016.