By EUGENE ADIONG
SAN CARLOS City — First District Rep. Julio Ledesma IV’s bill that seeks to declare 200 hectares in Salvador Benedicto town as a townsite is now with the office of Lower House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, the solon’s aide said.
Ledesma’s liaison officer, Marton Cui, told Panay News that Belmonte has the power to schedule the bill for floor deliberation.
After which, the bill will be referred to the House committee on ecology chaired by Manila 5th District Rep. Amado Bagatsing, said Cui.
“The office of Sen. Loren Legarda, who chairs the Senate committee on environment, assured us that if the township bill [is passed in] the Lower House, it will have a smooth sailing” toward full passage, Cui said.
Ledesma’s House Bill 4105 was filed in the Lower House during the 14th Congress in 2007, 15th Congress in 2010 and the 16th Congress in February this year.
His office said the bill failed to become a law because the Senate committee on environment, chaired by then Sen. Jamby Madrigal in the 14th Congress and Legarda in the 15th Congress, did not act on it.
Ledesma maintained the 200 hectares originally sought, despite requests that it be increased to 500 hectares, so as not to delay the process.
Expanding the requested township area would require another Department of Environment and Natural Resources survey, which could take more than a year to two to be completed.
A townsite for Salvador Benedicto is indispensable for its development programs and land use plan, said Ledesma.
The 200 hectares referred to in the bill is where the municipal hall, public market, police precinct, schools, gym and other government structures are located.
In fact, the requested area was approved by the regional director for Land Management Services of Western Visayas in August 1995, the solon said.
Salvador Benedicto covers 17,036 hectares, one-third of which is titled land while the rest is part of the Northern Negros Natural Park./PN
