The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is set to hold plebiscites on March 18 which aims to ratify the creation of Barangays Boganga II and Datu Dalidigan in Marawi City.
According to Comelec, the creation of the two new barangays are the direct result of the effects of the Marawi Siege, which led to a significant increase in the population on account of internally displaced persons, all of whom are now permanent actual inhabitants whose "paramount welfare" will be catered to by the newly-created barangay local government units (LGUs).
Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia will be on the ground together with Commissioners Socorro B. Inting, Aimee P. Ferolino who will be serving as Commissioner-in-Charge for Plebiscites, and Ernesto Ferdinand P. Maceda.
The poll body also mentioned that the plebiscites would have the distinction of being the first plebiscites and exclusively local electoral exercise to be held in the aftermath of the siege and hostilities and the liberation of Marawi City in 2017.
This was after three elections the 2019 and 2022 National and Local Elections and the 2018 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE).
Bgy. Boganga, from which Bgy. Boganga II is proposed to be created under City Ordinance No. 07-010 Series of 2022, and now has a total population of 6,320.
On the other hand, Bgy. Sagonsongan, from which Bgy. Datu Dalidigan is proposed to be created under City Ordinance No. 05-010 Series of 2022, and now has a total population of 7,137.
For these electoral exercises, Bgy. Bongaga has 992 registered voters while Bgy. Sagonsongan has 480.
In a statement, Garcia assured that the Commission en banc with Commissioners Marlon S. Casquejo, Rey E. Bulay, and Nelson J. Celis, together with the full force of Comelec, the Philippine National Police, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Department of Education (DepEd), the local government units of Marawi City, the Province of Lanao del Sur and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, can and will be able to successfully conduct any and all electoral exercises, large or small, nationwide or localized, as all are of equal importance in nation-building.