Legislative districts of Cavite

Map of Cavite's congressional districts since 2018

The legislative districts of Cavite are the representations of the province of Cavite in the various national and local legislatures of the Philippines. At present, the province is represented in the House of Representatives of the Philippines by its eight congressional districts, with the districts' representatives being elected every three years. The congressional districts are coextensive with the provincial board districts, where each district is allotted two seats in the Cavite Provincial Board, creating a total of sixteen elective seats in the legislature.

History

Cavite initially comprised a single district in 1898, when it elected four representatives to the Malolos Congress that lasted until 1899. The district was recreated in 1907 for the Philippine Assembly,^[1] this time electing one representative at-large. When seats for the upper house of the Philippine Legislature were elected from territory-based districts between 1916 and 1935, the province formed part of the fifth senatorial district which elected two out of the 24-member senate.

In the disruption caused by the Second World War, two delegates represented the 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. Cavite City, being a chartered city, was represented separately in this short-lived legislative body. Tagaytay, the province's other chartered city, was placed under provincial jurisdiction during the war and was not represented separately. Upon the restoration of the Philippine Commonwealth in 1945, the province and its two cities reverted to the pre-war lone district representation.

The province was represented in the Interim Batasang Pambansa as part of Region IV-A from 1978 to 1984, and returned three representatives, elected at large, to the Regular Batasang Pambansa in 1984. Cavite was reapportioned into three congressional districts under the new Constitution^[2] which was proclaimed on February 11, 1987, and elected members to the restored House of Representatives starting that same year.

The passage of Republic Act No. 9727^[3] on October 22, 2009, increased the number of the province's representatives from three to seven, starting in the 2010 elections. However, the conversion of Dasmariñas into a city has resulted in an additional legal name for the fourth district, which became the Lone District of Dasmariñas after the ratification of Republic Act No. 9723^[4] on November 25, 2009.

Meanwhile, despite the conversion of Bacoor and Imus into cities in 2012, their charters explicitly indicate the retention of their numerical designations as the second^[5] and third districts^[6] of the province.

Republic Act No. 11069, signed into law on September 17, 2018, reapportioned Cavite into eight legislative districts — the most for any province — by creating a separate legislative district for the newly converted city of General Trias.^[7] This effectively supersedes RA No. 9723 and confirms the sole legal designation of the congressional district of Dasmariñas as the fourth district of Cavite.

Current congressional districts

The province's current congressional delegation composes of four members of the National Unity Party, two members of Lakas–CMD, and one member of the Nationalist People's Coalition. One seat is currently vacant.

Legislative districts and representatives of Cavite

District	Current Representative				Constituent LGUs	Population (2020)[8]	Area[9]	Map
	Image		Name	Party
1st			Jolo Revilla (since 2022) Rosario	Lakas	List Cavite City Kawit Noveleta Rosario	368,468	88.34 km^2
2nd			Lani Mercado (since 2022) Bacoor	Lakas	List Bacoor	664,625	46.17 km^2
3rd			Adrian Jay Advincula (since 2022) Imus	NUP	List Imus	496,794	64.70 km^2
4th		Vacant[note 1]			List Dasmariñas	703,141	90.13 km^2
5th			Roy Loyola (since 2022) Carmona	NPC	List Carmona General Mariano Alvarez Silang	574,333	245.61 km^2
6th			Antonio Ferrer (since 2022) General Trias	NUP	List General Trias	450,583	81.46 km^2
7th			Crispin Diego Remulla (since 2023) Indang	NUP	List Amadeo Indang Tanza Trece Martires	633,219	251.75 km^2
8th			Aniela Tolentino (since 2022) Tagaytay	NUP	List Alfonso General Emilio Aguinaldo Magallanes Maragondon Mendez Naic Tagaytay Ternate	453,666	558.1 km^2

Notes

1. Seat vacant since the death of Elpidio Barzaga Jr. on April 27, 2024.

Historical districts

Lone congressional district (1898–1986)

Main article: Cavite's at-large congressional district

Period	Representative	Constituents
Malolos Congress 1898–1899	Severino de las Alas	Cavite
	José Basa
	Hugo Ilagan
	José Salamanca
1st Philippine Legislature 1907–1909	Rafael V. Palma[a]
2nd Philippine Legislature 1909–1912	Emiliano Tria Tirona
3rd Philippine Legislature 1912–1916	Florentino Joya
4th Philippine Legislature 1916–1919	Emiliano Tria Tirona
5th Philippine Legislature 1919–1922	Emilio F. Virata
6th Philippine Legislature 1922–1925	Pedro P. Espiritu
7th Philippine Legislature 1925–1928	Augusto A. Reyes[b]
	Antero S. Soriano[c][d]
8th Philippine Legislature 1928–1931
	Fidel Ibañez[c]
9th Philippine Legislature 1931–1934	Emiliano Tria Tirona
10th Philippine Legislature 1934–1935	Francisco Arca
1st National Assembly 1935–1938	Justiniano S. Montano[e]
2nd National Assembly 1938–1941
	Manuel S. Rojas[f]
National Assembly 1943–1944	Emiliano Tria Tirona[10]	Cavite (except Cavite City)
	Luis Y. Ferrer (ex officio)[10]
1st Commonwealth Congress 1945	Justiniano S. Montano	Cavite
1st Congress 1946–1949
2nd Congress 1949–1953	Manuel S. Rojas
3rd Congress 1953–1957	Jose T. Cajulis
4th Congress 1957–1961	Justiniano S. Montano
5th Congress 1961–1965
6th Congress 1965–1969
7th Congress 1969–1972
Regular Batasang Pambansa 1984–1986	Helena Zoila T. Benitez
	Renato P. Dragon
	Cesar E.A. Virata

1. Appointed as member of the second Philippine Commission on July 6, 1908
2. Died on July 3, 1925
3. Assumed office after winning a special election
4. Died on June 15, 1929
5. Election annulled on October 11, 1939 after an election protest
6. Declared winner of the 1938 election

See also

• Legislative district of Cavite City
• Legislative district of Dasmariñas

References

1. Act No. 1582 (January 9, 1907), An Act to Provide for the Holding of Elections in the Philippine Islands, for the Organization of the Philippine Assembly, and for Other Purposes, retrieved September 4, 2022
2. 1986 Constitutional Commission (February 2, 1987). "1987 Constitution of the Philippines - Apportionment Ordinance". Retrieved June 13, 2016.
3. Republic Act No. 9727 (October 22, 2009), An Act Reapportioning The Province Of Cavite Into Seven (7) Legislative Districts (PDF), archived from the original (PDF) on February 21, 2012, retrieved June 13, 2016
4. Republic Act No. 9723 (October 15, 2009), An Act Converting the Municipality of Dasmariñas in the Province Of Cavite into a Component City to be Known as the City of Dasmariñas (PDF), archived from the original (PDF) on June 11, 2011, retrieved June 13, 2016
5. Republic Act No. 10160 (April 10, 2012), An Act converting the municipality of Bacoor in the province of Cavite into a component city to be known as the City of Bacoor, retrieved June 13, 2016
6. Republic Act No. 10161 (April 10, 2012), An Act converting the municipality of Imus in the province of Cavite into a component city to be known as the City of Imus, retrieved June 13, 2016
7. Republic Act No. 11069 (August 23, 2018), An Act Amending Section 1 of Republic Act No. 9727, Reapportioning the Province of Cavite into Eight (8) Legislative Districts, retrieved July 22, 2019
8. "TABLE 1. Population of legislative districts by Region, Province, and selected Highly Urbanized/Component City : 2020" (PDF). Philippine Statistics Authority. Retrieved June 17, 2022.
9. "List of Provinces". PSGC Interactive. National Statistical Coordination Board. Archived from the original on April 19, 2016. Retrieved August 2, 2022.
10. Official program of the inauguration of the Republic of the Philippines and the induction into office of His Excellency Jose P. Laurel. Bureau of Printing. 1943.