LUCENA CITY – The people of Quezon will vote in a historic plebiscite on Dec. 13 to decide whether to allow the province’s division into two separate political units – Quezon del Sur and Quezon del Norte.
In the past 20 days, the run-up to the campaign reached feverish pitch as the “Yes” and “No” advocates used every old trick in the election campaign manual of traditional politicians.
Posters littered the stretch of Maharlika Highway and major streets of the province’s 40 towns and one city.
Leading the campaign for Yes votes were former Sen. Wigberto Tañada; his son Quezon Rep. Lorenzo “Erin” Tañada III (4th District) and Rep. Danilo Suarez (3rd District).
Three Catholic bishops – Emilio Marquez of Lucena, Buenaventura Famadico of Gumaca and Rolando Tria Tirona of Infanta – support the division.
Behind the No campaign are Gov. Rafael Nantes and his allies who have formed various groups to defeat the division.
Quezon Rep. Mark Enverga, son of former Gov. Wilfrido Enverga, is on the No side.
Rep. Proceso Alcala has taken the neutral side.
Under Republic Act 9495, 17 towns in the first and second districts of the province will be known as Quezon del Norte and Lucena City will remain as capital. Quezon del Sur will be composed of 22 towns in the third and fourth districts with Gumaca town as the capital.
Ironically, Nantes was one of the authors of RA 9495 during his three terms as congressman.
The measure was originally filed by the elder Tañada in 1996.
It was refiled in 1998 by Tañada and Nantes in his first term in Congress. The House passed the measure but it died at the Senate.
In 2001, Nantes and Rep. Aleta Suarez and Georgelou Yumol again filed the bill.
In 2004, the proposal was re-filed by Nantes with Representatives Lorenzo “Erin” Tañada III, Alcala and Suarez and was passed last year.
But after being elected governor in 2007, Nantes made a turnaround and opposed the province’s division.
Quezon provincial lawyer Dennis Guerrero said Nantes changed his decision on the advise of former Quezon Rep. Oscar Santos, Nantes’ godfather.
In a phone interview, however, Santos denied advising Nantes to oppose RA 9495.
“The creation or opposition to a new province should not be the call of politicians or anybody else. It’s for the people to decide,” Santos said.
One of the opposing groups tried but failed to convince the Supreme Court to stop the plebiscite on grounds of alleged unconstitutionality.
The High Tribunal only issued a temporary restraining order preventing the Commission on Elections from proclaiming the results of the plebiscite.
In his homilies, Bishop Marquez called on churchgoers to vote “Yes” in the plebiscite “not out of pity” for the poor residents of the 3rd and 4th districts, but because people in the area have the right to chart their own course.
“The people of the 1st and 2nd districts should just let them go. Just like an understanding mother to her child, she should allow her children to stand on their own feet and chart their own fate for their own good. We should all understand them,” Marquez said.
Famadico issued two pastoral letters calling for support for RA 9495.
Famadico said once Quezon del Sur is created, the province will be effectively managed because of its reduced territory.
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