A group of city mayors is up in arms against the allegedly underhanded tactics being employed by the leaders of 16 towns who are pressing for cityhood that the Supreme Court has already ruled as unconstitutional.
Some of the city mayors also are opposed to a separate legislative proposal to automatically convert capital towns into cities without these having to comply with the requirements imposed by the local government code.
League of Cities president Benhur Abalos, the mayor of Mandaluyong, said some of these town leaders have cast dishonor to the Supreme Court and its members. “They have been writing private letters to the individual justices of the Supreme Court in order to persuade them to change their votes in the case,” Abalos said.
“They even wrote to the Clerk of Court to recall the entry of judgment issued in the case on May 21, 2009.” The high court on Nov. 18, 2008 declared that its ruling, which rejected the cityhood bid, has become final and executory.
Abalos said the 16 municipalities have been filing prohibited pleadings in the court in a desperate attempt to secure the votes of justices who have actually inhibited themselves from the case.
“The 16 municipalities continue to violate the orders of the Court by filing one motion after another for the purpose of overturning the final decision of the Court that had in fact been executed and implemented.”
The league said the 16 towns did not meet at least two of three requirements: minimum land area of 100,000 square meters and/or population of 150,000; and an annual locally-generated income of P100,000.
The 16 towns and their respective income are: Batac, Ilocos Norte (P43.9 million); Baybay, Leyte, (P17.1 million); Bayugan, Agusan del Sur (P16.9 million); Bogo, Cebu (P24.9 million); Borongan, Eastern Samar (P15.7 million); Cabadbaran, Agusan del Norte (P13.7 million); Carcar, Cebu (P21.6 million); Catbalogan, Samar (P29.9 million); El Salvador, Misamis Oriental (P17.4 million); Guihulngan, Negros Oriental (P9.4 million); Lamitan, Basilan (P7.5 million); Mati, Davao Oriental (P36.7 million); Naga, Cebu (P56 million); Tabuk, Kalinga (P13.5 million); Tandag, Surigao del Sur (P15.1 million), and Tayabas, Quezon (P29.1 million).
Calbayog City Mayor Mel Senen Sarmiento, league secretary, said the Supreme Court decision of November 2008 prohibited the mayors from filing further pleadings.
In December 2006, the 16 towns filed their cityhood bills in the 13th Congress. The cityhood bills contained a provision exempting them from the income requirement. It is also at this time that the cityhood bills were approved by the House and transmitted to Senate.
In March 2008, the league of cities argued before the Supreme Court that these cityhood laws were unconstitutional since the towns did not meet the minimum income requirement of P100 million.
The Supreme Court on Nov. 18, 2008 en banc said the various laws creating these new cities indeed violated the Constitution and the local government code. The 16 towns filed a motion for reconsideration in January.
Another attempt to allegedly circumvent the law on cityhood has been exposed by two city mayors in Pangasinan.
The plan, embodied in House Bill 24, would create new cities out of capital towns even if these did not meet the requirements, according to San Carlos City Mayor Julier Resuello.
Congressmen should restudy House Bill 24 because it not only undermines the Local Government Code which sets the requirements but also teems with negative implications on local governance.
Urdaneta City Mayor Amadito Perez vehemently opposed the bill because it violated the local government code.
“Nowhere in the Local Government Code does it say that a town can become a city without having to meet the requirements,” Perez explained.
HB 24 seeks to convert the capital town of a province without a city into an urban area by exempting it from the P100-million minimum income requirement.
At least 30 capital towns will automatically become cities if the bill gets enacted into law. The bill was authored by Rep. Dulce Ann Hofer of the Second District of Zamboanga.
If Congress approves the bill, Perez said the 120-strong League of Cities of the Philippines will go to court and question its legality.
Resuello urged lawmakers to observe due process and not to skirt the law. With Marcelo Ortigoza
