On October 28, 2013, residents of Davao del Sur voted in a plebiscite to approve or disapprove the creation of the then proposed province of

Davao Occidental Davao Occidental (; ), officially the Province of Davao Occidental (; ), is a province in the Philippines located in the Davao Region in Mindanao. Its capital is the municipality of Malita, the most populous town in the province. To the east lies ...

Background

The creation of Davao Occidental was first proposed by then Davao del Sur congressman,

Marc Douglas Cagas IV Marc Douglas Chan Cagas IV (born April 24, 1976) is a Filipino politician. A member of the Nacionalista Party, he was elected in 2007 as a Member of the House of Representatives of the Philippines, representing the First District of Davao del ...

in 2013, while his father, Douglas Cagas, was still the governor of Davao del Sur. The proposed province was to compose all municipalities of Davao del Sur under the 2nd legislative district at that time. Cagas withdrew his proposal as the 2013 Philippine elections drew near. The proposal was revived by

Franklin Bautista Franklin "Colin" Peralta Bautista (born April 1, 1952) is a Filipino politician currently serving as Governor formerly serving as the first Vice Governor of the newly created Province of Davao Occidental. He has been elected to two terms as a ...

2nd district congressman of Davao del Sur. Bautista passed a law proposing the creation of the province, was passed in Congress, and approved by President Benigno Aquino III. Bautista's version of the law has a more limited scope with the municipalities of Santa Maria, Malita, Don Marcelino, Jose Abad Santos and Sarangani proposed to form Davao Occidental. Cagas' version included the municipalities of Kiblawan, Malalag and Sulop. The three municipalities opted out from being a part of the province proposed by Bautista. By virtue of ''

Republic Act This article contains a partial list of Philippine laws. Sources of Philippine laws ;Notes : *Customs may be considered as supplementary source of law, however, customs which are contrary to law, public order or public policy shall not ...

10360'' enacted on July 23, 2013, the province is the newest in the country, carved out from the southern part of

Davao del Sur Davao del Sur (; ), officially the Province of Davao del Sur (; ), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Davao Region in Mindanao. Its capital is Digos. Davao City is the largest city in terms of area an ...

. ''RA 10360'' was passed by the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

and

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

on November 28, 2012, and December 5, 2012, respectively, and signed by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Benigno Aquino III Benigno Simeon Aquino III (; born Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III; February 8, 1960 – June 24, 2021), also known as Noynoy Aquino and colloquially as PNoy, was a Filipino politician who served as the 15th president of the Philippines ...

on January 14, 2013.Sec. 46, RA 10360
The Province of Davao Occidental shall be created, as provided for in this Charter, upon approval by the majority of the votes cast by the voters of the affected areas in a plebiscite to be conducted and supervised by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) within sixty (60) days from the date of the effectivity of this Charter. A plebiscite was to be held to ratify the law. A

majority vote A majority is more than half of a total; however, the term is commonly used with other meanings, as explained in the "#Related terms, Related terms" section below. It is a subset of a Set (mathematics), set consisting of more than half of the se ...

of those who participated in the plebiscite was required to approve or disapprove the creation of Davao Occidental. Registered voters of

except

Davao City Davao City, officially the City of Davao, is a City of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Davao Region, Philippines. The city has a total land area of , making it the List of Philippine cities and municipalities ...

at the time of the plebiscite were eligible to vote.

Results

The results of the plebiscite was announced by the

COMELEC COMELEC or Comelec may refer to any of the following: * Commission on Elections (Philippines) The Commission on Elections (), abbreviated as , is one of the three Constitutional Commission#Philippines, constitutional commissions of the Phili ...

on October 30, 2013. Seventy-six percent of those who voted favored the creation of the new province.

Aftermath

Malita Malita, officially the Municipality of Malita (; ), is a municipality of the Philippines, municipality and capital of the Philippine Province, province of Davao Occidental, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 118, ...

was designated as capital of the new province and government officials of Davao del Sur, with assistance from the

Department of Interior and Local Government The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG; ) is the executive department of the Philippine government responsible for promoting peace and order, ensuring public safety and strengthening local government capability aimed towards t ...

retaining jurisdiction over the new province until residents of the province elected for the province's own set of government officials in 2016.

References

{{Davao general elections Provincial plebiscites in the Philippines 2013 referendums 2013 in the Philippines History of Davao Occidental Presidency of Benigno Aquino III Administrative division referendums October 2013 in the Philippines 21st century in the Davao Region