THE Municipality of Baliwag is now a component city after winning the “Yes” vote via landslide during the conduct of plebiscite on Saturday which was held peacefully and orderly.
Lawyer Temie Lambino, election director of Comelec Region 3 said, the unofficial turnout votes result is 21.16% out of 108,572 registered voters as of 4:00pm.
The partial unofficial result, the “Yes” vote reached 75.8% or 17,823 votes against only 24.2% or 5,702 who voted for “No” out of the total of more than 23,200 votes.
We are very satisfied with performance of the Comelec people and the help of our deputized government agencies such as the DepEd, PNP, BJMP, local government unit in making this plebiscite successful,” Lambino said.
According to Lhani Marasigan, chief of staff of Mayor Ferdie Estrella, the low turnout of the voters was expected based on the Comelec’s experienced during conduct of plebiscite in other places.
But compared to the three cities in Bulacan, Baliwag has the highest turnout of voters who participated during plebiscite, she said.
The Commission on Election (COMELEC) plebiscite canvassers on Saturday late night proclaimed the town as City of Baliwag effectively.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr issued a proclamation declaring a special non-working holiday in Baliwag during the plebiscite day.
In July this year, Republic Act (RA) 11929, An Act Converting the Municipality of Baliwag in the Province of Bulacan into a component city to be called the City of Baliwag was approved into law.
Mayor Estrella said it will help the local government a lot if the town of Baliwag becomes a city due to the more projects it brings from the national government.
“Nagpapasalamat po ako sa lahat ng mga kapwa ko Baliwageño na sumuporta at bumoto para maisakatiparan ang pangarap na ito,” Estrella said.
“No untoward incidents happened. The situation is very peaceful, disciplined and organized through the assistance from our government agencies,” said Estrella.
The town has 27 barangays.
