TABUK CITY, Kalinga – Concerned barangay officials and residents of a newly created barangay in this component city are prodding the local government to provide for the required funds amounting to at least P4 million to bankroll the conduct of a plebiscite for the ratification of a law that created barangay Lacnog West.
Republic Act (RA) 1328 which created barangay Lacnog West in Tabuk City, Kalinga was signed into law by President Rodrigo R. Duterte on April 17, 2019 and was published in a national publication on May 30, 2019.
Under the pertinent provisions of the said law, the Commission on elections (Comelec) is given 120 days to facilitate the conduct of a plebiscite for the people in the newly created barangay to ratify the establishment of barangay Lacnog West.
Further, the law that was authored by Rep. Allen Jesse C. Mangaoang obliged the local government to provide the funds required by the poll body in the conduct of the plebiscite which will be scheduled prior to the lapse of the 120-day period which will fall on September 30, 2019.
However, sources, who opted not to be identified for personal reasons, claimed that to date, the local government has not yet provided the required funds for the conduct of the plebiscite that is why the creation of the new barangay in the city might end up going back to the drawing board once the plebiscite will not be pursued until the end of the month.
Some barangay officials and community elders questioned the alleged refusal of the local government to provide the required funds to conduct the plebiscite when it is clear in the signed law that it will be the city that will provide the funds for the plebiscite that will be scheduled by the Comelec.
The law separated the sitios of Guina-ang, Madopdop, Mallango, Lanlana and San Pablo from barangay Lacnog and constituted them as an independent and separate barangay to be known as barangay Lacnog West
Rep. Mangaoang claimed that the realization of the plebiscite for the ratification of the law now lies in the hands of Tabuk City officials considering that it was provided in the law that it will be the local government that will provide the funds for the said plebiscite.
He asserted that he already did his part in passing the law and having it signed by the Chief Executive, thus, the local government should also do its part so that the people of the newly created barangay will have the chance to ratify the law for the same to be operational pursuant to existing laws, rules and regulations and for the barangay to co-exist with other barangays in the city.
Mangaoang urged barangay officials and residents to strengthen their lobby with the local government for the provision of the required funds to allow the conduct of the plebiscite considering that they are now running out of time as the end of the 120-day period to hold the plebiscite for the law’s ratification is just around the corner.
The Comelec already provided the local government with the details of the P3.9 million required for the conduct of the plebiscite for the ratification of the law that created barangay Lacnog West that has an estimated population of at least 10,000 and a voting population of more than 3,000 to date. By HENT
