Officials of barangay Babag in upland Cebu City complained to Mayor Michael Rama that they were losing potential voters to the neighboring barangay of Pungol-Sibugay.
Barangay Babag captain Rita Sabal alleged that Pungol-Sibugay barangay captain Jeferson Cadampog has been ferrying residents from sitio Kambitas in Babag using barangay vehicles to the Comelec north district office for voters registration.
Themayor advised Babag officials to consult a lawyer and file petition with the Commission on Election for the exclusion of questionable transfers of voters.
“We are very concerned because the decrease in number of voters could also mean a reduction in our share of taxes,” said the lady barangay captain.
Population is one of the criteria in determining a local government units ’share in the distribution of tax collection.
She also expressed worrty that Babag would suffer from less real property taxes if it loses land in Kambitas that is later counted as part of Sibugay.
Mayor Rama said that while he understands the problem, the City Council has jurisdiction of settling boundary disputes under the Local Government Code.
He said there were other ongoing barangay boundary disputes in the city in Lahug, Luz and Apas which the City Council still has to resolve.
He said that in most cases, city officials are wary about making a ruling because of the potential backlash in an election where they may lose votes. Doris C. Bongcac, Chief of Reporters