Comelec sets Cabanatuan City plebiscite on Nov. 8

CABANATUAN CITY, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will hold a plebiscite on Nov. 8  to ratify the conversion of this city into a highly urbanized city (HUC).

In a four-page resolution, the Comelec gave the go signal for the plebiscite to be participated in by 1,360,508 registered voters in the province.

The Supreme Court (SC) earlier ordered the Comelec to hold the plebiscite after it granted a petition filed by Nueva Ecija Gov. Aurelio Umali seeking to stop two Comelec resolutions setting the dates for the plebiscite on Dec. 1, 2012 and Jan. 25, 2014, but with only the registered voters of the city allowed to vote.

Saying all Novo Ecijanos would be affected if  Cabanatuan becomes an HUC, Umali argued that all registered voters in the province should participate in the plebiscite.

 “We are not saying the plebiscite should not be allowed. What we are questioning is who should be allowed to vote,” he said.

The bid to convert this city into an HUC, which is being pushed by Umali’s former ally, Mayor Julius Cesar Vergara, is provided under Proclamation 418 President Aquino issued on July 4, 2012.