The legislative districts of Benguet are the representations of the

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Benguet Benguet (), officially the Province of Benguet ('';'' ; ; ; ), is a landlocked Provinces of the Philippines, province of the Philippines located in the southern tip of the Cordillera Administrative Region in the island of Luzon. Its capital cit ...

in the various national legislatures of the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. The province is currently represented in the

lower house A lower house is the lower chamber of a bicameral legislature, where the other chamber is the upper house. Although styled as "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or otherwise e ...

of the

Congress of the Philippines The Congress of the Philippines () is the legislature of the national government of the Philippines. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of an upper body, the Senate of the Philippines, Senate, and a lower body, the House of Representatives ...

through its lone congressional district.

History

In 1917, the undivided

Mountain Province Mountain Province (; ; ; ; ; ) is a landlocked province of the Philippines in the Cordillera Administrative Region in Luzon. Its capital is Bontoc while Bauko is the largest municipality. Mountain Province was formerly referred to as Mountain ...

, of which Benguet was a component sub-province, was provided representation in the

Philippine Legislature The Philippine Legislature was the legislature of the Philippines from 1907 to 1935, during the American colonial period, and predecessor of the current Congress of the Philippines. It was bicameral and the legislative branch of the Insular ...

. Pursuant to the Revised Administrative Code (Act No. 2711) enacted on March 10, 1917, the non-Christian-majority areas of the Philippines, which then included the Mountain Province and Baguio, were to be collectively represented in the legislature's

upper house An upper house is one of two Legislative chamber, chambers of a bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house. The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restricted p ...

by two senators from the 12th senatorial district, both appointed by the

Governor-General Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...

. Three assembly members, also appointed by the Governor-General, were to represent the

and the chartered city of

Baguio Baguio ( , , ), officially the City of Baguio (; ; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Cordillera Administrative Region, Philippines. It is known as the "Summer Capital of the Philippines", ...

in the

as a single at-large district. The residents of Benguet and the rest of the Mountain Province only began electing representatives through popular vote in

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * January 12 – Amelia Earhart ...

by virtue of Act No. 4203; the law provided the territorial coverage for each lower house representative district, while also abolishing the senatorial district system. The sub-province was then represented as part of the Mountain Province's second district, which also included the city of

. In the disruption caused by the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the Mountain Province sent two delegates to the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

of the Japanese-sponsored

Second Philippine Republic The Second Philippine Republic, officially the Republic of the Philippines and also known as the Japanese-sponsored Philippine Republic, was a Japanese-Axis powers, backed government established on October 14, 1943, during the Japanese occupatio ...

: 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 The Japanese occupation of the Philippines (Filipino language, Filipino: ''Pananakop ng mga Hapones sa Pilipinas''; ) occurred between 1942 and 1945, when the Empire of Japan, Japanese Empire occupied the Commonwealth of the Philippines during Wo ...

, being a chartered city, was represented separately in this short-lived legislative body. Upon the restoration of the

Philippine Commonwealth The Commonwealth of the Philippines (; ) was an unincorporated territory and commonwealth of the United States that existed from 1935 to 1946. It was established following the Tydings–McDuffie Act to replace the Insular Government of the Phi ...

in 1945, district representation was restored to the pre-war setup: the sub-province of

and

remained part of Mountain Province's second district. The enactment of Republic Act No. 4695 on June 18, 1966 made the sub-province of

into a full-fledged province. Per Section 10 of R.A. 4695

was to be part of the newly independent province's representative district. Benguet, along with Baguio, began electing its separate representative starting in the next general election. Benguet was represented in the

Interim Batasang Pambansa The Interim Batasang Pambansa ( English: Interim National Assembly) was the legislature of the Republic of the Philippines from its inauguration on June 12, 1978, to June 5, 1984. It served as a transitional legislative body mandated by the 1 ...

as part of Region I from 1978 to 1984. The province returned one representative, elected at-large, to the

Regular Batasang Pambansa The Regular Batasang Pambansa (English language, English: Regular National Assembly), or the First Batasang Pambansa, was the meeting of the Batasang Pambansa (legislature), Batasang Pambansa from the beginning of its session on July 23, 1984 ...

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

separately elected its own representative in this election. Under the new Constitution which was proclaimed on February 11, 1987, Benguet was once more grouped with Baguio. The latter, though an independent city since 1909, comprised what was legally known between 1987 and 1995 as the first district of Benguet, while the actual province itself comprised the second district. Both elected members to the restored House of Representatives starting that same year. Starting in

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

the first district was re-designated as the " Legislative district of Baguio", thereby making the second district Benguet's lone district. Since 2019, the districts used in appropriation of members is coextensive with the legislative districts of Benguet. Prior to 2019 when the province was just one congressional district, the Commission on Elections divided the province into two provincial board districts.

Lone District

*Population (2015): 446,224

1969–1972

* includes

Notes

1st District (defunct)

City A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

Notes

2nd District (defunct)

Municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

: Atok, Bakun, Bokod,

Buguias Buguias, officially the Municipality of Buguias, (; ), is a municipality in the province of Benguet, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 44,877 people. The municipality is home to the mummy of Apo Anno, one of th ...

, Itogon, Kabayan, Kapangan, Kibungan, La Trinidad, Mankayan, Sablan,

Tuba The tuba (; ) is the largest and lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece (brass), mouthpiece. It first appeared in th ...

, Tublay

At-Large (defunct)

* excludes

References

{{Philippine legislative districts

Politics of Benguet