MANILA, Philippines – More than 2,000 voters in Marawi City are eligible to participate in a plebiscite on Saturday, March 9, to formalize the creation of three new villages.

These villages are:

• Barangay Sultan Corobong (to be taken from Barangay Dulay Proper)
• Barangay Sultan Panoroganan (to be taken from Barangay Kilala)
• Barangay Angoyao (to be taken from Barangay Patani)

The residents in the mother barangays will answer the ballot question on whether they agree to ratify city ordinances on the formation of the new villages.

Commission on Elections (Comelec) spokesman Rex Laudiangco said that the number of residents in the mother barangays ballooned in recent years, raising the need to create new ones.

Under the Local Government Code, a new barangay may be created out of a contiguous territory which has at least 2,000 inhabitants.

“Even though we only expect 2,265 voters, these are only those who are registered. Not included in that number are the youth and non-registered voters,” Laudiangco said in Filipino in an interview with Radyo Pilipinas on Thursday, March 7. “The population size may be big already, and there is a need for them to be governed by a new set of officials.”

Voting takes place in three schools across the three mother barangays. The polls are manual, and residents can cast their ballots from 7 am to 3 pm.

The counting of votes and canvassing ballots will take place after.

In March last year, the Comelec also oversaw a plebiscite in Marawi to ratify the creation of two new barangays.

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The sharp population growth in those villages was the result of the relocation of thousands of Marawi residents who lived in “ground zero” of a 2017 war. – Rappler.com