Quezon split is No vote

LUCENA CITY -- The controversial Republic Act 9495 that aims to divide Quezon into two separate provinces has received a severe beating based on unofficial results of the plebiscite held Saturday.

Based on reports from Quezon's 40 towns and one city, which was released by the provincial governor's office Sunday afternoon, the proposed division of the province into two had been rejected in the plebiscite.

Unofficial results showed the "No" votes at 202,930 while the “Yes” votes a total of 155,389.

Results also showed that voters from the province’s 3rd and 4th districts approved the creation of Quezon del Sur, which would have been comprised 23 towns from the two districts.

Results from the two districts showed that “Yes” garnered a total of 101,952 votes while the opposition received 78,388.

However, the "No" votes from the province’s 1st and 2nd districts overtook the “Yes” lead in the Bondoc Peninsula (3rd district) and Lamon Bay (4th district) areas.

The unofficial tally sheet showed that 1st and 2nd districts have a combined total of 124,542 "No" votes compared to "Yes," with 53,437 votes.

In the official count of the Commission on Elections, lawyer Allan Enriquez, head of the Comelec in Quezon, said that as of Monday morning, there were 168,935 votes for “No,” with “Yes” having 135, 220 votes.

He said they have yet to receive the election returns from the towns of Real, Infanta, and General Nakar and six other island municipalities.

Enriquez observed that the big towns in the Bondoc Peninsula and Lamon Bay areas failed to deliver the expected affirmative votes.

Quezon has about 900,000 voters but according to the Comelec only about one third of the whole voting population participated in the plebiscite.

Meanwhile, Representative Proceso Alcala (2nd District) refuted a report that he had changed his neutral stand and supported the rejection of RA 9495 on the eve of the plebiscite.

"The report that I supported ‘No’ at the last minute was not true. It was a blatant lie. I maintained my neutral stand until the end of the plebiscite," he told the Philippine Daily Inquirer over the phone.

On Saturday morning, the Inquirer was informed of Alcala's change of stand from the lawmaker’s trusted men. The information was also confirmed by Lucena Bishop Emilio Marquez, Representatives Lorenzo "Erin" Tañada III (4th District), and Danilo Suarez (3rd District).

The Inquirer tried but failed to get Alcala's comment on the reports. The lawmaker admitted shutting off his phone last Saturday.

However, Alcala did not refute the report that his own staff had actively participated in the "No" campaign. "I gave them freedom to decide on their own," he explained.

Alcala said that if he really supported the rejection of RA 9495, he could have contributed more votes to the opposition.

Last Saturday's political exercise was reportedly marred by massive vote-buying. The "No" campaigners are being accused by the "Yes" advocates of massive vote buying, especially in Candelaria town and Lucena City.

RA 9495 paved the way for voting on the division of the province into two separate political units -- Quezon del Sur and Quezon del Norte -- in the plebiscite.

Governor Rafael Nantes, a former representative of the province's first district, is the main author of the measure which he pushed during his three terms in Congress, along with Alcala, Representative Lorenzo "Erin" Tañada III (4th district), and Suarez (3rd district) as co-authors until the measure was passed last year.

But after being elected governor in 2007, Nantes made a turnaround and opposed the province's division.

In his speech before the provincial employees Monday morning, Nantes said that with the defeat of RA 9495, he urged the opposition to work with him in his development projects and programs for the province.

He said brickbats and mud were thrown in his direction to besmirch his person during the intense plebiscite campaign but he ignored them all.

"The people have refuted them all by voting ‘No’ to the division of Quezon," he said.

He thanked his supporters for the successful rejection of RA 9495 particularly Representative Mark Enverga (1st District) and Alcala.

With a standing order from the Supreme Court preventing the Comelec from officially proclaiming the results of the plebiscite, the provincial agency would count all the votes from the different municipalities but would not sign the certificate of canvass and proclaim the results