The charter of the City of Malolos was first passed through Republic Act 8754 on November 4, 1999. The bill's author was then Rep. Wilhelmino M. Sy-Alvarado. A plebiscite was conducted on December 18, 1999, where the votes "not" in favor of cityhood won. During the plebiscite, the clash between the pro and anti-cityhood groups reached the peak when the allegedly fraud done by the antis to manipulate the results in able to win the "No" votes gathering 11,535 count against 9,321 "Yes" votes.