Plebiscite for cityhood of Sto. Tomas, Batangas to be held on Sept. 7, 2019

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will conduct a plebiscite for the ratification of the cityhood of Sto. Tomas, Batangas on September 7.

In a statement, the poll body said that voters can cast their votes manually in their respective polling precincts by writing yes/oo or no/hindi on the official ballot from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Moreover, an express lane will be provided for pregnant voters, persons with disabilities, and senior citizens. Illiterates, PWDs and senior citizens who won’t be able to cast their ballots by themselves will be assisted by qualified persons.

President Rodrigo Duterte signed the bill converting the municipality of Sto. Tomas into a component city into a law last October 2018.

Sto. Tomas, however, will only attain a city status if the yes vote for cityhood wins the plebiscite.

Under the Local Government Code, a bill may be filed to convert a municipality into a component city if the said area has a locally generated average annual income of at least P100 million , for the last two consecutive years based on constant price in year 2000 as certified by the Department of Finance, a contiguous territory of at least 100 square kilometers as certified by the Land Management Bureau or a population of not less than 150,000 inhabitants as certified by the National Statistics Office.

Because of the plebiscite, Comelec has also suspended the voter registration in the area from September 4 to 11 and will only resume it on September 12.

The registration of voters for the 2022 polls started last August 1 and will end on September 30, 2019. — BM, GMA News