Palace favors additional House members

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang is in favor of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile’s proposal to increase the number of congressmen from 250 to 350. In a chance interview Thursday, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita echoed Enrile’s explanation that the continuous increase in the country’s population makes its necessary to also increase the seats in the House of Representatives. “Let’s just say it’s a thought from a responsible political leader,” Ermita said of Enrile’s proposal. Ermita said that in his province, Batangas, there is already a move to increase its four districts to six due to the growing population. In his Senate Bill 3123, Enrile noted that the August 2007 National Statistics Office census showed with the country’s annual population growth of 2.04 percent, the number of Filipinos is expected to increase from 88.57 million in 2007 to 92.23 million by the end of 2009. Ermita said an area with a population 250,000 merits a seat in the House. “From what I read and what I know also, if you have more than 250,000 population, it would merit to be represented in Congress, and that’s where he [Enrile] based his recommendation,” he said. - GMANews.TV