MANILA – The City of San Jose del Monte (SJDM) will not be converted into a highly urbanized city (HUC) after more than 800,000 voters in the province of Bulacan turned down the measure, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) reported on Wednesday.

Based on the certificate of canvass of votes released by the poll body, a total of 820,385 voted “No” to the conversion, outnumbering the 620,707 voters who said “Yes” to the measure.

A total of 1,608,004 out of 2,092,248 voters in the province joined Monday’s plebiscite, which coincided with the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections.

Proclamation 1057 issued by former president Rodrigo Duterte on Dec. 4, 2020, converts San Jose del Monte City into an HUC and paved the way for the holding of the plebiscite.

The proclamation was issued after the Sangguniang Panlungsod (City Council) of San Jose del Monte, through Resolution 2019-059-09, requested the chief executive to declare the city as an HUC.

Under Section 452 of Republic Act (RA) 7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991, the city with a minimum population of 200,000 inhabitants as certified by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) and with the latest annual income of at least P50 million based on 1991 constant prices, as certified by the City Treasurer, can be classified as HUC.

The proclamation earlier said the city has met the minimum requirements prescribed under Section 452 of RA 7160 for it to be classified as an HUC.

San Jose del Monte, Bulacan’s then largest town in terms of land area and population, was proclaimed as a component city on Sept. 10, 2000 under Republic Act 8797.

Among those who campaigned against SJDMC’s HUC bid were Bulacan Gov. Daniel Fernando, and former Governors Wilhelmino M. Sy-Alvarado and Roberto Pagdanganan. Philippine News Agency, Steve Gosuico

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Steve A. Gosuico