Legislative districts of Basilan

The legislative districts of Basilan are the representations of the province of Basilan 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.

History

Further information: Legislative district of Mindanao and Sulu, Legislative district of Zamboanga, and Legislative district of Zamboanga del Sur

Prior to gaining separate representation, areas now under the jurisdiction of Basilan were represented under Zamboanga Province (1898–1899; 1935–1953), the Department of Mindanao and Sulu (1917–1935), Zamboanga del Sur (1953–1972) and Region IX (1978–1984).

Even after separating from Zamboanga City and receiving its own charter on June 16, 1948, the city of Basilan remained part of the representations of the Province of Zamboanga (pursuant to Section 42 of Republic Act No. 288)^[1] and of the Province of Zamboanga del Sur (pursuant to Section 7 of Republic Act No. 711).^[2]

The promulgation of Presidential Decree No. 356 on December 27, 1973, created the province of Basilan out of most of the territory of the former city of Basilan.^[3] The city of Basilan itself was delimited only to the downtown area of present-day Isabela^[3] until P.D. 840 finally abolished the city on December 11, 1975;^[4] the former city's territory, along with the municipality of Malamawi, was merged into the municipality of Isabela.^[4] The new province was represented in the Interim Batasang Pambansa as part of Region IX from 1978 to 1984.

Basilan was granted separate representation for the first time in 1984, when it returned one representative, elected at large, to the Regular Batasang Pambansa.

Under the new Constitution which was proclaimed on February 11, 1987, the province constituted a lone congressional district,^[5] and elected its member to the restored House of Representatives starting that same year.

Current districts

Legislative Districts and Congressional Representatives of Basilan

District	Current Representative			Party	Population (2015)	Area
Lone			Mujiv Hataman (since 2019)	Basilan Unity Party	203,828[6]	1327.23 km^2

See also

• Legislative district of Mindanao and Sulu
• Legislative district of Zamboanga
  • Legislative districts of Zamboanga del Sur

References

1. Republic Act No. 288 (June 16, 1948), "An Act Creating the City of Basilan", Chan Robles Virtual Law Library, retrieved November 19, 2017
2. Republic Act No. 711 (June 6, 1952), "An Act to Create the Provinces of Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga del Sur", Chan Robles Virtual Law Library, retrieved November 27, 2017
3. Presidential Decree No. 356 (December 27, 1973), "Creating the Province of Basilan", Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines, Manila, retrieved November 19, 2017
4. Presidential Decree No. 840 (December 11, 1975), "Reorganizing the political subdivision of the Province of Basilan, Converting Basilan City into the Municipality of Isabela, Appropriating funds therefor, and for other purposes", The LawPhil Project, Manila, retrieved February 5, 2017
5. 1986 Constitutional Commission (February 2, 1987). "1987 Constitution of the Philippines - Apportionment Ordinance". Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines. Retrieved November 19, 2017.
6. "TABLE 1. Population of legislative districts by Region, Province, and selected Highly Urbanized/Component City : 2015". Philippine Statistics Authority. Archived from the original on April 5, 2022. Retrieved March 8, 2021.