The Sept. 17 Maguindanao Plebiscite is now the second highest voter turnout in a province-wide plebiscite, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Sunday.
In a statement, Comelec Acting Spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco said this after the official Canvass of the Provincial Plebiscite Board of Canvassers of Maguindanao showed that the total number of voters who actually voted was at 711,767 out of 818,790 or 86.93 percent.
He said the creation of the Province of Compostela Valley from the Province of Davao Del Norte in 1998 still had the highest voter turnout with 89.73 percent.
Comelec Chairman George Garcia said the high voter turnout showed that "people are not afraid to cast their votes. They trust the process so much."
Laudiangco said the very high voter turnout can also be attributed to the intensive cooperation and cooperative actions of the poll body, the Department of Education, the Philippine National Police, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and the Local Government.
He added that the very high trust ratings of Comelec (3rd in all government agencies), with its officials being hands-on and on-the-ground in this electoral exercise led by Chairman George Garcia, other poll officials, and the support of the Provincial Government of Maguindanao, proved to the Maguindanaoans that they can safely go out of their homes to vote and have their votes counted correctly and canvassed properly.
Other plebiscites that also recorded a high voter turnout were the Division of the Province of Palawan into Palawan Del Norte, Palawan Oriental and Palawan Del Sur in 2021 (60.73 percent), and the creation of the Province of Davao Occidental from Davao Del Sur in 2013 (42.54 percent).
The Maguindanao plebiscite was conducted to determine whether or not the province will be divided into two Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur.