SC allows Cabanatuan plebiscite but…

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court (SC) has given the Commission on Elections (Comelec) the go-signal for the plebiscite on the conversion of Cabanatuan City into a highly urbanized city (HUC).

But the SC directed the poll body to revise its rule that limits the plebiscite only to qualified voters in the city.

The Comelec, according to the high court, is directed to hold a plebiscite to be participated in by qualified registered voters of Nueva Ecija within 120 days from the finality of the decision.

Voting 9-5, the SC granted the petition filed by Nueva Ecija Gov. Aurelio Umali earlier this year questioning the Comelec resolution that set the plebiscite upon the prodding of Cabanatuan Mayor Julius Cesar Vergara.

Umali wanted the Comelec to allow all qualified voters in the whole province to take part in the plebiscite, saying all Novo Ecijanos will be affected once Cabanatuan becomes an HUC.

The provincial government had opposed Cabanatuan’s HUC conversion as this would take away a large chunk of the voters’ population in the third district, perceived to be Umali’s political stronghold.