MANILA, Philippines – Fresh from the high-participation plebiscite in two barangays in Marawi City on March 18, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) will conduct another plebiscite on March 25, this time in Luzon.

Registered voters of Barangay Muzon in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan – the city’s most populous village – will head to the polls on Saturday, March 25, to decide on the proposed division of their village into four.

1. The plebiscite seeks to ratify a 2022 law.

Republic Act No. 11896, which seeks the division of Barangay Muzon, lapsed into law in July 2022.

The said measure wants to divide the barangay into the following:

• Barangay Muzon Proper
• Barangay Muzon East
• Barangay Muzon West
• Barangay muzon South

The current village has 43,771 registered voters.

The author of the bill, Florida Robes, said in 2020 that the split would “improve the delivery of basic social services and effectively manage available resources for the general welfare of the whole constituency of the city.”

2. There are four voting centers on plebiscite day.

Four schools – composed of 78 clustered precincts – will be used on plebiscite day, namely:

• San Jose Heights Elementary School
• Pabahay Elementary School
• Benito Nieto Elementary School
• Muzon High School

The plebiscite is fully manual, from voting to counting to canvassing of results.

Voting is from 7 am to 3 pm.

3. Canvassing begins early Saturday evening.

After the polls close, the barangay plebiscite canvassing board will convene at 6 pm to start processing the results.

The Comelec said it would continue canvassing the returns until it makes a proclamation. – Rappler.com