The Commission on Elections on Wednesday disclosed that at least 800,000 voters in the province of Bulacan turned down the proposal to convert the City of San Jose del Monte into a highly urbanized city.

According to the poll body, a total of 820,385 voted "No" to the conversion, outnumbering the 620,707 voters who said "Yes" to the measure based on the certificate of canvass of votes released to the public.

A total of 1,608,004 out of 2,092,248 voters in the province joined Monday's plebiscite, which coincided with the 2023 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections.

To recall, Proclamation 1057 issued by former President Rodrigo Duterte on 4 December 2020, converted San Jose del Monte City into a highly urbanized city and paved the way for the holding of the plebiscite.

The proclamation was issued after the Sangguniang Panlungsod of San Jose del Monte, through Resolution 2019-059-09, requested the chief executive to declare the city as highly urbanized.

Under Section 452 of Republic Act 7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991, the city with a minimum population of 200,000 inhabitants as certified by the Philippine Statistics Authority and with the latest annual income of at least P50 million based on 1991 constant prices, as certified by the City Treasurer, can be classified as highly urbanized.

The proclamation earlier said the city has met the minimum requirements prescribed under Section 452 of RA 7160 for it to be classified as a highly urbanized city.