MANILA – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said it is ready to hold the plebiscite for the merging of 29 barangays in Ormoc City in the province of Leyte on Saturday.
The activity in Eastern Visayas will involve more than 10,000 registered voters.
"We are all systems go," Comelec spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco said in a telephone interview Friday.
Comelec chairperson George Garcia and Commissioners Socorro Inting and Rey Bulay are expected to oversee poll activity.
A total of 10,209 registered voters from Barangays 1 to 29 are set to manually cast their votes in a total of 75 established precincts located in a single voting center.
Voting hours will be from 7 a.m. until 3 p.m. Counting of votes will follow after the polling center has closed.
The plebiscite seeks to get approval on the proposed merger of Barangay Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 15, 17, 23, and 27 to form one barangay which will be known as Barangay South.
Also, it will allow the merging of Barangay Nos. 9, 10, 11, 16, 18, 25, and 28 to form Barangay East.
The plebiscite will also determine the coalition of Barangay Nos. 14, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, and 26 to form Barangay East.
Likewise, the decision of the majority will approve or not the renaming of Barangay 29 to Barangay North.
The barangay plebiscite boards of canvassers are expected to convene by 6 p.m., to start the canvassing of votes. A proclamation of results will follow immediately after all the votes have been counted.
In January 2021, Ormoc City Mayor Richard Gomez approved Ordinance No. 052, which calls for the holding of a plebiscite for the reorganization and renaming of the barangays.
The local government unit has allocated PHP8 million for the holding of the plebiscite. (PNA)
