The legislative districts of Samar are the representations of the province of Samar 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 congressional districts.
History The former province of Samar was divided into three legislative districts from 1907 until 1965.
Its division into three different provinces was only approved in a plebiscite held together with the general elections on November 19, 1965, as mandated by Republic Act No. 4221,http://laws.chanrobles.com/ph/ra/republicactno4221.html which meant that voters still elected representatives under the old district configuration. After the ratification of RA 4221 the representatives of the second and third districts automatically served as the representatives of the lone districts of Western Samar and Eastern Samar, respectively, while the representative of the first district only served until 1967, when special elections were held to determine the new representative for Northern Samar. In 1969 Western Samar was renamed, and it is just this portion of the original undivided province that now assumes the title Samar.
Samar was part of the representation of Region VIII from 1978 to 1984, and from 1984 to 1986 it elected 2 assemblymen at-large. In 1986 it was redistricted into two legislative districts.
Current districts Western Samar's current congressional delegation is composed of two members.
Nacionalista (1) Lakas–CMD (1)
+Legislative districts and representatives of Western SamarDistrictCurrent RepresentativePartyConstituent LGUsPopulation (2020)AreaMapImageName1st Stephen James Tan(since 2022)CalbayogNacionalista 338,230 2,269.14 km² 2nd Reynolds Michael T. Tan(since 2022)CatbaloganLakas–CMD 454,953 3,778.89 km²
Historical districts 3rd District (defunct)
Municipalities: Balangiga, Borongan, Dolores, Guiuan, Llorente, Oras, San Julian, Sulat, Taft, Salcedo (re-established 1908), Hernani (re-established 1912), Quinapondan (re-established 1946), General MacArthur (established 1947), Mercedes (established 1948), Can-avid (established 1948), San Policarpo (established 1948), Giporlos (established 1949), Arteche (established 1951), Maydolong (established 1951), Balangkayan (established 1959), Lawaan (established 1959), Jipapad (established 1965), Maslog (established as municipal district 1919)
Period Representative 1st Philippine Legislature1907–1909 Eugenio D. Daza 2nd Philippine Legislature1909–1912 Eladio Cinco 3rd Philippine Legislature1912–1916 Mariano Alde 4th Philippine Legislature1916–1919 Jose Lugay Raquel 5th Philippine Legislature1919–1922 6th Philippine Legislature1922–1925 Iñigo Abenis 7th Philippine Legislature1925–1928 Gerardo Morrero 8th Philippine Legislature1928–1931 Gregorio B. Abogado 9th Philippine Legislature1931–1934 Gerardo Morrero 10th Philippine Legislature1934–1935 1st National Assembly1935–1938 Juan L. Bocar 2nd National Assembly1938–1941 1st Commonwealth Congress1945 Felix Opimo 1st Congress1946–1949 Adriano D. Lomuntad 2nd Congress1949–1953 Gregorio B. Abogado 3rd Congress1953–1957 4th Congress1957–1961 Felipe J. Abrigo 5th Congress1961–1965 6th Congress1965–1969 see Lone District of Eastern Samar Notes
Lone District (defunct) Period Representative 6th Congress1965–1969 Fernando R. Veloso 7th Congress1969–1972 Notes
At-Large (defunct) 1943-1944 Period Representative National Assembly1943–1944 Cayetano Lucero Serafin S. Marabut
1984-1986 Period Representative Regular Batasang Pambansa1984–1986 Jose A. Roño Fernando R. Veloso
See also Legislative district of Eastern Samar Legislative district of Northern Samar
References