Baliwag, Bulacan votes in favor of cityhood
MANILA, Philippines — Residents of Baliwag have voted to ratify a law turning their town into a component city of Bulacan province, which will mean a bigger share of revenues from the national government.
According to the Commission on Elections, voter turnout for the plebiscite stood at 21.7% after only 23,562 of 108,572 of registered voters in Baliwag cast their votes. Results showed 75.6% or 17,814 voted to convert the town into a component city of the province, while 24.19% or 5,702 voted against the measure.
Baliwag is now the 147th city in the country. As a component city, its residents are eligible to vote and run in elections for provincial government.
"The dream of the people of Baliwag to solidify the recognition deserving that of a developing and emerging economy in turning their beloved municipality into the now City of Baliwag is a reality after the success of this plebiscite through Republic Act No. 11929," Comelec spokesman John Rex Laudiangco said in a statement late Saturday evening.
With cityhood, Baliwag will have a bigger Internal Revenue Allotment, after shedding costs of decentralization that is usually shouldered by municipalities and provincial governments. This means the city of Baliwag would be able to spend more for the city's projects and services.
The National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) described in its 1 p.m. report that the voting process has been “smooth, organized, and peaceful, with no untoward incidents observed.”
It also noted that a turnout of only 2% to 10% in polling places on Saturday morning, with plebiscite committees hoping that more voters will cast their votes in the afternoon.
While the closing and counting of the votes were said to be generally peaceful, NAMFREL also noted how some members of the plebiscite committee were not prepared or trained properly.
“According to a NAMFREL observer, the PlebCom members also found it difficult to fill out certain forms manually because they were used to the automated system wherein the vote counting machine performed said part of the process,” NAMFREL said in its 7 p.m. report.
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