The Legislative districts of Davao del Norte are the representations of the province of Davao del Norte 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 first and second districts.
Contents
- History
- 1st District
- 19871998
- 2nd District
- 3rd District defunct
- Lone District defunct
- At Large defunct
- References
Compostela Valley last formed part of its representation in 1998.
History
Prior to gaining separate representation, areas now under the jurisdiction of Davao del Norte were represented under the Department of Mindanao and Sulu (1917–1935) and the historical Davao Province (1935–1967). The enactment of Republic Act No. 4867 on 8 May 1967 split the old province into Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur and Davao Oriental. Per Section 4 of R.A. 4867, the incumbent Davao Province representative was to indicate which of the three new provinces he wished to continue to represent; Rep. Lorenzo Sarmiento chose to represent Davao del Norte. Davao del Sur (grouped together with Davao City) and Davao Oriental were separately represented beginning in the second half of the 6th Congress after a special election was held on 14 November 1967 to fill their new congressional seats.
Davao del Norte (officially renamed to "Davao" in 1972) was represented in the Interim Batasang Pambansa as part of Region XI from 1978 to 1984, and returned three representatives, elected at-large to the Regular Batasang Pambansa in 1984. The province was reapportioned into three congressional districts under the new Constitution which was proclaimed on 11 February 1987, and elected members to the restored House of Representatives starting that same year.
Apart from restoring the name of the province to Davao del Norte, the passage of Republic Act No. 8470 and its subsequent ratification by plebiscite on 7 March 1998 separated the province's eleven eastern municipalities to create the new province of Compostela Valley, which comprised two new congressional districts. Per Section 3 of R.A. 8470, Davao del Norte's representation was reduced to two districts. The newly reconfigured districts elected their own representatives beginning in the 1998 elections.