President Rodrigo Duterte signed a law dividing Palawan into independent provinces of Palawan del Norte, Palawan Oriental, and Palawan del Sur.

According to Republic Act 11259 signed last April 5 but released Saturday, the province of Palawan del Sur will be the "mother province" among the three.

Located in Palawan del Sur are the municipalities of Aborlan, Narra, Quezon, Rizal, Espanola, Brooke's Point, Bataraza, Balacbac, and Kalayaan.

Palawan del Norte consist of Coron, Culion, Busuanga, Linapacan, Taytay and El Nido.

Eight municipalities were meanwhile included in the province of Palawan Oriental namely Roxas, Araceli, Dumaran, Cuyo, Agutaya, Magsaysay, Cayancillo, and San Vicente.

The law stated that capital towns of each provinces as well as government seats shall be located at the municipalities of Taytay, Roxas, and Brooke's Point.

The three provinces will also have its own provincial governor, a provincial vice governor, regular members of the sangguniang panlalawigan, a secretary to the sangguniang panlalawigan, a provincial treasurer, a provincial assessor, a provincial accountant and , a provincial budget officer.

A provincial planning and development coordinator, a provincial engineer, a provincial health officer, a provincial administrator, a provincial legal officer, a provincial agriculturist, a provincial social welfare and development officer, a provincial veterinarian, and a provincial general services officer will be tapped per province.

The creation of the three provinces will take place based on the majority of votes cast by the affected areas through a plebiscite which will be conducted and supervised by the Commission of Elections (Comelec) on the second Monday of May 2020.

The law also explained that upon the creation of three provinces, the first set of elective officials shall be elected in the May 2022 national and local elections.

However, the residents of Puerto Princesa City are not qualified to vote in the plebiscite and for the officials of each provinces as the law stated that Puerto Princesa is "a highly urbanized city." Cristina Eloisa Baclig/DMS