Call it institutional respect or inter-chamber courtesy.

The sheer size of their respective constituents define the concerns and priorities of senators and members of the House of Representatives.

For instance, the Senate usually defers to the aptly called House when it comes to passing laws of local  importance, including the creation of provinces like the proposed Nueva Camarines.

Members of the House are called “representatives” precisely because they serve as the direct voices of their legislative constituents.  

It is for this reason that the Senate can be expected to pass a local bill that not only emanated from the House but which it passed with a historic and overwhelming vote of 229-1.         We are, of course, referring to House Bill 4820.

Sure, the Senate would put HB 4820, which seeks the creation of Nueva Camarines from the 4th and 5th Districts of Camarines Sur, under the microscope. Just like the House, the Senate would conduct hearings and debates before putting HB 4820 to a vote.

But the Senate would surely take full cognizance of the fact that four out of the five congressmen of Camarines Sur authored or co-authored HB 4820, and that 24 of the 35 mayors of the province supported the measure.

It would also not escape the senators’ attention that three of the Camarines Sur solons who co-authored HB 4820 represent the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Districts which would form the reduced  Camarines Sur if and when Nueva Camarines is formed.

The senators would see that the same holds true for many of the mayors, vice mayors, councilors, and barangay officials who supported HB 4820 – that many of them  preside over towns and villages in Camarines Sur’s first three districts.

Members of the upper chamber would  easily  deduce that aside from HB 4820’s support from the 4th and 5th Districts, support for the measure is also solid from the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Districts  of the province. In short, unanimous.

What this tells us is that Camarinenses see that a reduced Camarines Sur and Nueva Camarines would both benefit from a more focused governance and accessibility by their respective provincial governments to far, hard-to-reach areas of the two provinces. 

Indeed, smaller but progressive provinces are decidedly better than bigger but largely neglected and underdeveloped ones.

And at the end of the day, our senators can be expected to appreciate the ultimate argument-ender in this issue: That no one must  deprive Camarinenses of their right to decide for themselves via a plebiscite whether they support the creation of the Province of Nueva Camarines.

That is perfectly within their right to self-determination.