Navotas now a city, despite dismal plebiscite turnout

The country's fishing capital formally became a city shortly after midnight Sunday, after an "overwhelming majority" voted for its cityhood in a plebiscite. Radio dzBB reported that Navotas was officially proclaimed a city past 1 a.m., shortly after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) counted the votes from the plebiscite. It said the Comelec counted 12,544 "yes" votes for cityhood and 1,396 "no" votes, although only 13,000 of some 121,000 registered voters cast their votes in the plebiscite. Navotas' cityhood was proclaimed a day after Tabuk in Kalinga was similarly proclaimed a city. Tabuk is the second town in Cordillera to be proclaimed a city. Classes in the elementary and high school levels were suspended for the day in Navotas, which has a population of 230,403. Navotas is considered the "Fishing Capital of the Philippines," as about 70% of its population derive their livelihood directly or indirectly from fishing and its related industries. Last Sunday, dzBB reported that several residents of then Navotas town remained clueless they were to take part in a plebiscite. It said many residents in Navotas claimed they were not informed about the plebiscite, where they were to decide if Navotas will become a city. Last week, the Comelec conducted a similar plebiscite in San Juan, which was proclaimed a city mere hours after the last vote was cast. The supposedly lack of information belied the Navotas government's announcement last June 8 that it is conducting an information drive on the plebiscite. A statement on the Navotas government website (www.navotas.gov.ph) said the local government lined up activities to ensure participation in the plebiscite. It said the activities included multi-sectoral meetings, forums, and motorcades. The statement said Navotas passed the basic requirements for cityhood as provided for in the Local Government Code, which includes the annual income of at least P50 million and a minimum population of 200,000. "At present Navotas has P339,272,656.31 million annual income and a population of 265,846," it said. "Converting our town into highly urbanized city is what all Navoteños are longing for. I believe that it's about time to grant the cityhood for us. We worked hard to meet all the requirements needed and there's no stooping us until we reached our goal," mayor Tobias Tiangco said in the statement. - GMANews.TV