Say hello to Davao de Oro.
That will be the new name for the Province of Compostela Valley after majority of its constituents ratified Republic Act 11297–the law that renames Compostela Valley to Davao de Oro.
The final results showed 174,442 voting Yes while the No votes got 5,020 during the plebiscite marred by low turnout held Saturday, December 7.
Commission on Election (Comelec) 11 regional director lawyer Remlane Tambuang, who also acted as the chairman of the Provincial Board of Canvassers, made the announcement inside the Sangguniang Panlalawigan Session Hall, around 10:00p.m. of December 8, after all the election returns from the 11 towns were counted.
During the proclamation, Tambuang said the plebiscite recorded a low 43.86 percent voting turnout out of the 410, 261 total number of voters in the province.
However, the official said the low turnout will not affect the result of the plebiscite since the law stated this would only need a simple majority.
He said the possible reason why there were only few people who went out and vote was that the results were already foreseen by many.
Governor Jayvee Tyron Uy thanked all the people who voted during the last Saturday’s plebiscite.
“We have nothing but gratitude to all who helped us in the campaign, to all local government officials, employees of the Provincial Government and everyone who helped us get the message of this renaming across, to the security sector, teachers and election officers who worked hard to give us a seamless plebiscite and most especially, to the people of Davao de Oro to whom this change is inspired,” he said.
Uy said the 20 years as Compostela Valley Province gave them enduring lessons- of resilience, convergence, cooperation and collective responsibility.
“Certainly, we will bring those ideals as Davao de Oro,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Compostela Valley Police Provincial Police Office (CVPPO) declared that the conduct of plebiscite was generally peaceful.
CVPPPO provincial director Col Joselito Loriza said there no major incidents in connection to the plebiscite even the start of the election period last November 7 up to the present day.
Loriza said the province only nabbed four people who violated the election gun ban implemented by Comelec 11 in relation to the plebiscite.
