San Pedro City welcomes 7 new villages

SAN PEDRO CITY- This city officially has seven new villages carved out from one of its larger villages, Barangay San Vicente.

The seven new villages are Pacita 1, Pacita 2, Chrysanthemum, Rosario, Fatima, San Lorenzo and Maharlika.

This brings the previous number of this city’s barangays from 20 to 27.

San Pedro election officer Marianne Marfori officially declared the creation of the seven new villages following a plebiscite held on Saturday.

Records from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) showed an overwhelming number of “yes” votes at 6,541 against the “no” votes at 1,729.

The total number of votes cast, 8,270, amounted to 16 percent of the total voting population of Barangay San Vicente, which is 50,859.

As a single village, San Vicente, which is home to several residential and commercial districts, had a population of about 92,000 and an internal revenue allotment of P55 million that it could have qualified as a separate municipality.

San Pedro itself became a component city only in December 2013.

City Mayor Lourdes Cataquiz, through city information officer Sonny Ordoña on Sunday, thanked the city’s electorate for participating in the plebiscite.

“They became part not only of history but of decision-making,” Ordoña, on behalf of the mayor, said by phone.

Ordoña said the city government would set aside a still unspecified amount for each of the seven new villages, as each one can also now benefit directly from the programs of the city.

It was however not clear yet whether the city government would call for an election of new village chiefs or appoint interim village captains to serve until the next national barangay elections.