Editing Provinces of the Philippines (section)

=== Proposed renaming ===
* [[Southern Leyte]] to '''Leyte del Sur''' (2007) {{spaced ndash}} [[Southern Leyte's at-large congressional district|Southern Leyte Lone District]] Rep. Roger Mercado introduced bills to rename the province of [[Southern Leyte]] to Leyte del Sur, citing a desire to “enhance the identity of [the province] as geographically a part of the [[Leyte|Leyte Island]] with a distinct personality of its own” and to have the province alphabetically listed closer to the neighboring province of [[Leyte (province)|Leyte]], from which it was separated in 1959.<ref>{{Cite web|title=House Bill No. 6408 (17th Congress)|url=https://hrep-website.s3.ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com/legisdocs/basic_17/HB06408.pdf|access-date=December 24, 2023|publisher=[[Congress of the Philippines]]|archive-date=December 24, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231224112038/https://hrep-website.s3.ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com/legisdocs/basic_17/HB06408.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Mercado first filed the bill in 2007,<ref>{{Cite web|title=House Bill No. 1602 (14th Congress)|url=https://issuances-library.senate.gov.ph/bills/house-bill-no-1602-14th-congress-republic|access-date=December 24, 2023|publisher=[[Senate of the Philippines|Senate of the Philippines Legislative Digital Resources]]|archive-date=December 24, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231224112038/https://issuances-library.senate.gov.ph/bills/house-bill-no-1602-14th-congress-republic|url-status=live}}</ref> and this attempt gained traction during the 14th Congress, as House Bill No. 6650 was passed by the House of Representatives on September 8, 2009, with 170 votes in its favor and none against it. The Senate, however, did not act on the measure.<ref>{{Cite web|title=House Bill No. 6650 (14th Congress)|url=https://issuances-library.senate.gov.ph/bills/house-bill-no-6650-14th-congress-republic|access-date=December 24, 2023|publisher=[[Senate of the Philippines|Senate of the Philippines Legislative Digital Resources]]|archive-date=December 24, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231224112040/https://issuances-library.senate.gov.ph/bills/house-bill-no-6650-14th-congress-republic|url-status=live}}</ref> Mercado's second attempt in 2017 did not prosper, as House Bill No. 1602 died in the committee level during the 17th Congress.<ref>{{Cite web|title=House Bill No. 6408(17th Congress)|url=https://issuances-library.senate.gov.ph/bills/house-bill-no-6408-17th-congress-republic|access-date=December 24, 2023|publisher=[[Senate of the Philippines|Senate of the Philippines Legislative Digital Resources]]|archive-date=December 24, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231224112039/https://issuances-library.senate.gov.ph/bills/house-bill-no-6408-17th-congress-republic|url-status=live}}</ref>