By Emmanuel T. Erediano
Variety News Staff

THE Precinct 4 Club of the Republican Party may bring the issue of the precinct’s “underrepresentation” in the House of Representatives to court.
Yesterday, precinct club chairman Luis Q. Kapileo and vice chairwoman Alice S. Igitol said they wrote party president Thomas B. Pangelinan to inform him that they were reviewing the CNMI Constitution “to determine if they should take legal action for a reapportionment and redistricting of Saipan’s election districts.”
They said a cursory review of the current population of Precinct 4 — which has two House seats — indicates that it has increased.
They pointed out that it has been 16 years since the last reapportionment and redistricting happened on Saipan.
Article 2, Section 4 of the CNMI Constitution provides that “at least every 10 years within 120 days following publication of the results of a decennial census, the Legislature shall reapportion the seats in the House of Representatives or revise the districts for electing representatives as required by changes in commonwealth population by law.”
Subsection B provides that “if the Legislature fails to act…the governor shall promulgate a reapportionment or redistricting plan within 120 days after the expiration of the time for the Legislature to act. The governor’s plan shall be published in the same manner as an act of the Legislature and upon publication shall have the force of law.”
The voting population of Precinct 4 is more than 2,000, according to Kapileo and Igitol.
This number they said, is “almost equal” to that of Precinct 3 which has six representatives.
“Overrepresentation and under representation (are) issues that the party should address,” Kapileo and Igitol told Pangelinan in the letter.