Comelec ready for possible CamSur split

Should Congress succeed in splitting Camarines Sur into two provinces and creating the new province of Nueva Camarines, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) will have no choice but to open the filing of certificate of candidacy for that place.   "Kung may bagong probinsiya then we will open it up for COC filing," poll chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. told reporters Friday, the last day for filing COCs for aspirants seeking elective posts in next year’s midterm elections.   Brillantes said they will give way to the candidates of Nueva Camarines if the proposal will be approved before January 2013.   "Basta umabot before we do the configuraion in January pwede naming payagan," he said.    House Bill 4820 is now pending before the Senate. Should HB 4820 be passed into law, the new province will only be created after it gets ratified in a plebiscite.   Sen. Joker Arroyo, who opposed the bill, had earlier said carving a new province from Camarines Sur would only benefit feuding political families there.   Among the authors of the bill are Camarines Reps. Diosdado “Dato” Arroyo (2nd district) and Rolando Andaya Jr. (1st district). The two benefited from the creation of an additional district in Camarines Sur in 2010 as they were supposed to run against the other in a single district.   Moves to split Camarines Sur into two provinces also brought out a feud between Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Villafuerte and his son, Governor Luis Raymond “LRay” Villafuerte Jr.   The two Villafuertes were at odds over the proposed legislation, with the father pushing for Camarines Sur’s split and the son opposing it. — Amita O. Legaspi/KBK, GMA News