The cover photo of the Davao de Oro Facebook Page
Voters in the province of Compostela Valley ratified Republic Act 11297, the law that will rename their province to Davao de Oro.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) provincial plebiscite board of canvassers on December 8, declared that 174,442 registered voters or 97% of votes cast are favorable in renaming Compostela Valley to Davao de Oro while only 5,020 voters or 3% of votes cast were against it.
The recent elections show the province has 462,942 registered voters as per Comelec records. Total voter turn-out for the plebisicite is only 38.77%.
The plebiscite was held from 7 a.m. until 3 p.m. Counting and canvassing of votes immediately followed after the closing of voting precincts, though there was considerable delay since the tallying of votes was done manually.
In his message, Davao de Oro Governor Tyron Uy said the renaming of the province does not end with the plebiscite. “We will work on making Davao de Oro true to its name, a province where people come, people live, and people prosper,” he said.
Last April, President Rodrigo Duterte signed RA 11297, authored by Representatives Pedro Acharon Jr., Ruwel Peter Gonzaga, and Maria Carmen Zamora for the House and Senators Juan Miguel Zubiri and Sonny Angara for the Senate. Supporters of the renaming of the province said the change to Davao de Oro would strengthen the association of the province with the rest of the Davao Region.
The province was created and named Compostela Valley in 1998. 11 municipalities were carved out of Davao del Norte to form the new province. 21 years prior, Compostella Valley was the only province in Region 11 or Davao region without a “Davao” in its name. (Rommel F. Lopez)