The Commission on Elections (Comelec) reported that Marawi City is set to have two new barangays after 16,000 voters agreed, in a plebiscite, to create the new villages.
Several families have resettled in the new barangays after being displaced by the Marawi siege, ABS-CBN News also reported.
Comelec chair George Garcia, quoted by the ABS-CBN News, said that the Marawi plebiscite results were as follows: For the creation of Barangay Datu Dalidigan: turnout was 98.5%, “yes” vote at 97.9%; and “no” vote: 0.6%
For the creation of Barangay Boganga II, turnout is at 95.7%, “yes” vote: 95.4% and “no” vote at 0.3%
Garcia also said there were no untoward incidents during the polls. Garcia flew to Marawi City to monitor the plebiscite.
“Nakakatuwa dahil kahit plebisito lang ito sa pag-create ng barangay subalit lahat ng mga taga barangay ay pumunta rito (This is somewhat remarkable because this is just a plebiscite to create a barangay, yet all the villagers came),” Garcia said.
Garcia said if the residents are in favor of splitting their respective barangays, two new villages would be formed: Barangay Boganga II, to be created from the existing Barangay Boganga; and Barangay Datu Dadiligan, to be formed from the existing Barangay Sagonsongan.
About 1,400 voters took part in the referendum.
Barangay Boganga has 992 registered voters out of its population of 6,320 while Barangay Sagonsongan has 480 registered voters out of its population of 7,137.
Garcia noted that so far, they have not received any report of an untoward incident during the poll.
The manual voting started at 7 a.m. and will end at 3 p.m.
The split of the two barangays was proposed to better facilitate the delivery of services to residents displaced by the May 2017 Marawi siege.