The Las Pinas City Municipal Hall, on November 4, 2022. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/File

MANILA -- Residents in Las Piñas have said yes to an ordinance that sets the boundaries of the city’s 20 barangays. 

Based on the certificate of canvass released by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Sunday, 41,493 (67%) people voted ‘yes’ to ratify the ordinance, while 19,498 (33%) voted in the negative.

Out of the 308,059 registered voters in the city, only 61,237 voters or about 20% showed up for the plebiscite on Saturday.

READ: Residents vote on Las Piñas ordinance to define barangay boundaries

In an interview with Teleradyo Serbisyo, Comelec Chairman George Garcia said the votes are valid despite the low turnout.

"Valid po na boto dahil po sa ating bansa, ang ating pong tinatanggap yung tinatawag na plurality. Kung sino may pinakamataas na boto, bagamat hindi majority ang bumoto o hindi nakaboto basta may bumoto. At aalamin sino ang may mataas na nakuhang boto, yun po ang mananalo. At dahil dito ang nanalo yes dahil mataas ang nakuhang boto, valid po ito," he said.

(The votes are valid, because in our country we accept what we call plurality. Whoever has the highest [number] of votes, even if it is not the majority who voted as long as someone voted. Then we will find out who has the highest number of votes, they will be declared the winner. And since the yes vote won with the most votes, it is valid.)

The poll body chief acknowledged the low turnout, but said this is the trend historically during plebiscites of this nature.

"Hindi naman [kami nababahala] kasi kapag plebisito sadyang mababa yung turnout hindi katulad ng national o local election sapagkat parang kinokonsulta lang kasi yung mga kababayan natin tungkol doon sa kung anong issue meron doon sa barangay or doon sa bayan or siyudad. Usually mababa talaga yan sa aking karanasan. Ang naging mataas lang itong sa Maguindanao talagang almost 90% mahigit ang voters turnout doon yung sa hatian ng probinsya ng Maguindanao," he explained.

(We are not bothered [by the low voter turnout] because during plebiscites, voter turnout is really low unlike national and local elections. This is because the plebiscite is like you are consulting our countrymen about certain issues in barangays, municipalities or cities. Based on my experience, it's usually low. The only plebiscite with a high voter turnout around 90% was the one in Maguindanao about the division of the province.)

Garcia says the discrepancies in the official results and number of people who voted are due to stray votes.

"May mga bumoto hindi bumoto ng yes or no. Ibig sabihin, binigyan sila ng balota pero maaari ang binoto isang yes, isang no o kaya di na bumoto kahit sa ano. So recorded pa rin sila sa bumoto pero hindi sila recorded whether bumoto ng yes or no. Nakita kang pumunta sa presinto pero hindi ka bumoto ng yes lang bumoto ka ng no. So stray votes ang tawag doon," he explained.

(There are voters who did not vote yes or no. We gave them ballots but it's possible they voted yes and no or they did not vote for any of the options. So they are still recorded as voters but they are not part of those who voted yes or no. You were seen at the [voting precinct] but you did not just vote yes, you also voted no. So those are called stray votes.)

The plebiscite held on Saturday sought to ratify City Ordinance No. 1941-23, which delineates the territorial boundaries of these barangays to conform with the cadastral survey approved by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) completed in March 2015.

Atty. Datumama Macainding, the election officer of Las Piñas, earlier said the 20 barangays do not have delineations, prior to the plebiscite.

He said this caused overlapping boundaries and issues with barangay officials over jurisdiction.

The poll body said the plebiscite was 'generally peaceful' and there were no untoward incidents recorded in the city.

"Napaka-peaceful, generally peaceful yung ginawang plebisito sa Las Piñas. Ang napansin lang natin, kitang kita talaga yung mga bumoboto yung mga natatanda. Yung mga kabataan parang hindi nagkaganun kataas na interes sa pagboto sa plebesito," Garcia said.

(The plebiscite in Las Piñas was very peaceful, generally peaceful. What we noticed is that most of the voters are the older voters. The younger ones seemed to not have much interest in voting in the plebiscite.)

Garcia also said in Teleradyo Serbisyo interview that the result is immediately executory, meaning the city ordinance is supposed to take effect today.