Samar Solon Push for New Samar Province

Representative Mel Senen Sarmiento of the first district of Samar filed on July 15 House Bill 1488 which seeks to create a new province in the Island of Samar.

To be known as Northwestern Samar, the move was initiated by former Congressman and now Calbayog City Mayor Reynaldo Uy. The bill however failed to be enacted into law in the fourteenth congress.

According to Rep. Sarmiento, the proposed province complies with all the requirements stated in Section 461 of the Local Government Code of 1991. The law requires of a province to have at least 250,000 inhabitants, at least 2,000 square kilometers land area, and at least twenty million generated income.

Rep. Sarmiento explains that having a separate province will pave the way for a more manageable cluster of local government units in Samar. The proposed province, with land area of 2,332.20 square kilometers, has a total population of 275,697 in the 2000 survey by the National Statistics Office. He also cited that the generated income of Calbayog City alone satisfies the income requirement in the creation of a new province. Calbayog city and nine other municipalities, namely Almagro, Gandara, Matuguinao, Pagsangahan, San Jorge, Santa Maragarita, Sto. Nino, Tagapul-an, and tarangan, will be comprising the Northwestern Samar.

The representative likewise filed House 1490 which seeks to annex the Calbayog City District Hospital (CCDH) to the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center (EVRMC). Rep. Sarmiento said the bill, if approved by both houses, will further enhance the capacity and facility of the CCDH. Because of the limited facility of the CCDH, people from Samar are sometimes referred to the EVRMC in Tacloban City.