Legislative district of Apayao

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The Legislative District of Apayao is the current representation of the province of Apayao in the various national legislatures of the Philippines. The province is currently represented in the lower house of the Congress of the Philippines through its lone congressional district.

In 1916 the undivided Mountain Province (of which Apayao was a sub-province) was provided with representation in the Philippine Legislature. Initially, its three lower house delegates were appointed by the Governor-General. When seats for the upper house of the Philippine Legislature were divided between territory-based districts between 1916 and 1935, the Mountain Province, along with the other then non-Christian-majority areas (Nueva Vizcaya and the provinces within the Department of Mindanao and Sulu), formed the twelfth senatorial district, for which two senators were also appointed by the Governor-General.

The residents of the Mountain Province only began electing representatives in 1935 by virtue of Act No. 4203; the law provided the territorial coverage for each lower house representative district, while also abolishing the senatorial district system. The sub-province of Apayao was then represented as part of the Mountain Province's first district.

In the disruption caused by the Second World War, two delegates represented the Mountain Province in the National Assembly of the Japanese-sponsored Second Philippine Republic: one was the provincial governor (an ex officio member), while the other was elected through a provincial assembly of KALIBAPI members during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines.

Upon the restoration of the Philippine Commonwealth in 1945, the Mountain Province continued to comprise three representative districts and the sub-province of Apayao continued to be represented as part of the first district. The enactment of Republic Act No. 4695 on June 18, 1966 united the sub-provinces of Apayao and Kalinga into a separate province; the new province of Kalinga-Apayao began electing its own representative in 1969.

Kalinga-Apayao was represented in the Interim Batasang Pambansa as part of Region II from 1978 to 1984, and elected one representative to the Regular Batasang Pambansa in 1984. The province retained its lone congressional district under the new Constitution which was proclaimed on February 11, 1987, and elected its member to the restored House of Representatives starting that same year.

Apayao was granted its own representation following the ratification of Republic Act No. 7878 on May 8, 1995, which separated it from the sub-province of Kalinga. The new province began electing its own representative in 1998.

Lone District

Period Representative
11th Congress
19982001
Elias K. Bulut
12th Congress
20012004
Elias C. Bulut, Jr.
13th Congress
20042007
14th Congress
20072010
15th Congress
20102013
Eleanor C. Bulut-Begtang
16th Congress
20132016

See also

References

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