Ormoc City on Saturday held a plebiscite for the merger of its 28 barangays and the renaming of Barangay District 29.
A total of 10,209 voters are expected to cast their vote in 35 clustered precincts at the Ormoc Central School opened from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner George Erwin Garcia and three other commissioners supervised the plebiscite.
Garcia called the plebiscite a historic event for the city and its people being the first in Eastern Visayas.
“The commissioners are only here to ensure that the vote of people are counted and we will be able to declare whatever the result of the plebiscite,” Garcia said.
The Comelec is expecting to have the result by 8 or 10 p.m. on the same day.
Leyte 4th District Rep. Richard Gomez said the affected city villages need to be merged so that residents can efficiently avail of government services.
Gomez said some of the villages do not have a barangay hall or even a barangay health facility which would be addressed once they are merged because the income of the consolidated villages would become bigger.
“It took us a while to convince the officials, the resistance was too strong, and we need to present the pros and cons for them to understand,” Gomez said.
Villages 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 12 13,15,17 ,23 and 27 will become barangay south, then district 9,10,11,16,18, 25, and 28 will compose barangay east, while districts 14,19,20,21,22,24,and 26 will compose the new barangay west, and district 29 will be renamed.
Source: Philippines News Agency
