Legislative districts of Manila

The highly urbanized city of Manila is currently represented in the House of Representatives of the Philippines by its six congressional districts. Every three years, each district elects one representative who will sit on their behalf in Congress. In addition, each district is allotted six seats in the Manila City Council, with councilors being elected every three years.

Legislative districts of Manila

History edit

Areas now under the jurisdiction of Manila were initially represented as part of the at-large district of the province of Manila in the Malolos Congress from 1898 to 1899; the district elected four representatives.

The city of Manila, chartered in 1901, first gained separate representation in 1907. It was initially divided into two representative districts from 1907 to 1949. When seats for the upper house of the Philippine Legislature were elected from territory-based districts between 1916 and 1935, the city formed part of the fourth senatorial district which elected two out of the 24-member Senate.

In the disruption caused by the Second World War, Manila was incorporated into the City of Greater Manila on January 1, 1942, through Manuel Quezon's Executive Order No. 400 as a wartime emergency measure. Greater Manila was represented by two delegates in the National Assembly of the Japanese-sponsored Second Philippine Republic: one was the city mayor (an ex officio member), while the other was elected through a citywide assembly of KALIBAPI members during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines.

Upon the restoration of the Philippine Commonwealth in 1945, Manila's pre-war two-district representation was retained; this remained so until 1949. By virtue of the Revised Charter of the City of Manila,[1] enacted on June 18, 1949, the city was divided into four congressional districts. The city elected four representatives from the 2nd Congress up to the 7th Congress.

The city was represented in the Interim Batasang Pambansa as part of Region IV from 1978 to 1984, and elected six representatives, at large, to the Regular Batasang Pambansa in 1984.

Manila was reapportioned into six congressional districts under the new Constitution[2] which was proclaimed on February 11, 1987. It elected members to the restored House of Representatives starting that same year.

Current districts edit

The city was last apportioned upon the proclamation of the 1987 Constitution, where it was granted six seats in Congress. The city's current congressional delegation composes of two members of Lakas-CMD, two members of the National Unity Party, one member of Aksyon Demokratiko, and one member of the Nationalist People's Coalition; all six members are also members of the Asenso Manileño local party. All six representatives are part of the majority bloc in the 19th Congress.

Legislative districts and representatives of Manila
District Current Representative Party Constituent LGUs Area Population (2020) Map
Local National
1st   Ernesto M. Dionisio Jr.
(since 2022)
Asenso Manileño Lakas-CMD
List
4.57 km2 441,282[3]  
2nd   Rolando M. Valeriano
(since 2019)
NUP
List
4.08 km2 212,938[3]  
3rd   Joel R. Chua
(since 2022)
Aksyon Demokratiko 6.24 km2 220,029[3]  
4th   Edward Michael V.P. Maceda
(since 2016)
NPC
List
5.14 km2 388,305[3]  
5th   William Irwin C. Tieng
(since 2022)
Lakas-CMD 11.56 km² 395,065[3]  
6th   Bienvenido M. Abante Jr.
(since 2019)
NUP
List
7.79 km² 300,186[3]  

Notes

At-large (defunct) edit

1898–1899 edit

Period Representatives
Malolos Congress
1898–1899
Teodoro Gonzales Leaño
Felix Ferrer y Pascual
Arsenio Cruz Herrera
Mariano Limjap

1943–1944 edit

Period Representatives
National Assembly
1943–1944
Leon G. Guinto (ex officio)
Alfonso E. Mendoza

1984–1986 edit

Period Representatives
Regular Batasang Pambansa
1984–1986
Jose L. Atienza, Jr.
Eva Estrada-Kalaw
Carlos C. Fernandez
Gemiliano C. Lopez, Jr.
Gonzalo G. Puyat II
Arturo M. Tolentino

References edit

  1. ^ Republic Act No. 409 (June 18, 1949), An Act to Revise the Charter of the City of Manila, and for Other Purposes, retrieved June 13, 2016
  2. ^ "1987 Constitution of the Philippines - Apportionment Ordinance". Retrieved June 13, 2016.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Philippine Statistics Authority | Republic of the Philippines". psa.gov.ph. Retrieved June 16, 2022.