After almost half a year of suffering from being reverted back to Municipalities and agonizing from the effect of IRAs being withheld, at last, we can celebrate Christmas with more joy.
The 16 LGU's who were reverted back to Municipalities now reaps the fruit of their sacrifices in almost half a year of fighting back in Court. The Supreme Court en banc reversed its previous decision nullifying the Cityhood status of 16 LGUs.
I have here clippings of news reports from different news papers:
SC AFFIRMS CITYHOOD
Bogo, Naga, Carcar and 13 other localities nationwide to remain cities
It’s a merry Christmas indeed for the cities of Carcar, Bogo, and Naga in Cebu province.
The Supreme Court reversed its decision on the fate of the cityhood of 16 Philippine municipalities that was earlier nullified by the tribunal.
With a vote of 6-4, the Supreme Court en banc granted the second motion for reconsideration filed by several municipalities that earlier lost their cityhood because of the tribunal's Nov. 18, 2008 decision that held the cityhood laws unconstitutional.
The Supreme Court thus restored the validity of the cityhood laws that created cities out of the towns of Carcar, Bogo, Naga and 13 others.
The others are Baybay in Leyte; Catbalogan in Samar; Tandag in Surigao del Sur; Borongan in Eastern Samar; Tayabas in Quezon province; Lamitan in Basilan; Tabuk in Kalinga; Bayugan in Agusan del Sur; Batac in Ilocos Norte; Mati in Davao Oriental; Guihulngan in Negros Oriental; Cabadbaran in Agusan del Norte; and El Salvador in Misamis Oriental.
The High Court ruled that the authority to create, divide, merge or abolish boundaries of a city is essentially legislative in nature.
With the Congress' power to create political units, the Supreme Court said it “can surely exercise the lesser authority of requiring a set of criteria and standards” including income requirements for prospective cities.
The decision of the Supreme Court was welcomed by Mayors Patricio Barcenas of Carcar and Valdemar Chiong of Naga as well as former Bogo mayor Celestino “Tining” Martinez III.
“Nalipay kaayo kog dako nga nabalik ta sa pagka city. (I'm very happy that our cityhood status has been restored),” Barcenas told .
Carcar officials plan to hold a thanksgiving Mass and party capped with fireworks after Christmas to celebrate the Supreme Court decision.
Carcar’s projects can be fully implemented now that they are assured of an annual Internal Revenue Allotment of P280 million compared with only P98 million in IRA for a town, he added.
Barcenas said he hoped that Carcar could start constructing diversionary roads, terminals, and public markets.
“It’s a very merry Christmas for the City of Naga. This (decision) is for all people of Naga,” said Mayor Chiong.
“We can fast-track the implementation of infrastructure projects. We will have many investors and when that happens, there will be many Cebuanos who can work here. This ought to be a blessing,” he added.
Chiong said Naga’s IRA went up to P188 million from P66 million when Naga was upgraded into a city.
In Bogo, former mayor Martinez said they had expected the Supreme Court to rule in favor of the new cities.
“Without a doubt, Bogo is a city,” he added..
Martinez, whose father, Celestino “Junie” Martinez Jr., is the incumbent mayor, said they too hoped to continue infrastructure projects in Bogo which were in progress while waiting for the Supreme Court decision.
These include the new Bogo City Hall, roads, public market, commercial districts, port and water program.
Martinez said that like Naga and Carcar, Bogo’s IRA went up to P180 million from P40 million. /INQUIRER
New cities exempted from P100-million income rule
THE Supreme Court earlier struck down as unconstitutional the cityhood laws because of a common provision that exempted them from the P100-million income requirement for a municipality to lay claim to being a city.
The Court earlier said that the provision on exemption from the income requirement violated the equal protection clause of the Constitution.
In a 35-page decision penned by Justice Presbitero J. Velasco, Jr., the court granted the second motion for reconsideration filed by 16 mayors across the country who contested the SC's November 18, 2008 decision, which had ruled that said Cityhood Laws as unconstitutional.
Concurring were Justices Renato Corona, Teresita Leonardo-De Castro, Lucas Bersamin, Roberto Abad, and Martin Villarama, Jr.
Justice Antonio Carpio wrote a dissenting opinion and was joined by Justices Conchita Carpio Morales, Arturo Brion, and Diosdado Peralta.
On the other hand, Chief Justice Reynato Puno, and Justice Antonio Eduardo Nachura, and Mariano Del Castillo did not take part in the voting.
The cityhood laws have exempted the 16 municipalities which were enacted after the effectivity of Republic Act 9009, an act amending the Local Government Code, which increased the income requirement for cityhood from P20 million to P100 million.
The Supreme Court also held that Congress can impose a verifiable criteria of viability for cityhood as part of its plenary legislative power. The criteria need not be embodied in the Local Government Code.
The High Tribunal said Congress can even enact an amendatory law adding to the existing layers of indicators earlier made.
“To be sure, courts, regardless of doubts they might be entertaining, can not question the wisdom of the classification, if reasonable, made by Congress or the motivation underpinning the classification,” said the Supreme Court.
“In the same token, they do not sit to determine the propriety or efficacy of the remedies Congress has specifically chosen to extend. That is its prerogative. The power of the Legislature to make distinctions and classifications among persons is, to reiterate, neither curtailed nor denied by the equal protection clause. A law can be violative of the constitutional limitation only when the classification is without reasonable basis.”
In the case involving the 16 municipalities, the amendatory RA 9009 increased the income requirement from P20 million to P100 million.
RA 9009 amended Section 450 of the Local Government Code by increasing the annual income requirement for conversion of a municipality into a city from P20 million to P100 million.
The SC said that based on Congress' deliberations and clear legislative intent was that the then pending cityhood bills would be outside the pale of the minimum income requirement of P100 million that Senate Bill No. 2159 proposes; and RA 9009 would not have any retroactive effect insofar as the cityhood bills are concerned.
-----------------------------------------------------------------‘Null’ cities ruled valid
LOCAL officials yesterday hailed the Supreme Court’s (SC) decision declaring as constitutional the laws that converted 16 towns into three cities in 2007, including three in Cebu.
The SC, by a vote of 6-4, reversed its ruling that declared the conversion laws null and unconstitutional.
“This is a very merry Christmas for us. Our prayer has finally been answered,” said City of Naga Mayor Valdemar Chiong.
Tandag, Surigao del Sur Mayor Ike Pimentel, leader of the informal “league of 16” that the new cities formed, immediately flew to Malacañang to submit a copy of the decision to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
He hopes the 16 will receive their Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) as cities by January 2010.
When the SC first ruled that the conversion of the 16 towns into cities was invalid, Pimentel said, their IRA shares were reduced to the levels they received as municipalities.
In a 35-page decision penned by Justice Presbitero J. Velasco Jr., the SC granted the second motion for reconsideration the cities filed after the previous ruling last Nov. 18, 2008.
The SC previously ruled that the conversion laws violated the equal protection clause of the Constitution.
The case stemmed from a petition of the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP), which said that the new cities fell short of the P100-million local income required by an amended provision of the Local Government Code.
But the SC, in its latest ruling, said the 16 new cities were exempted from Republic Act 9009, which raised the income requirement from P20 million to 100 million, for towns to become cities.
Declared as valid and constitutional are Republic Acts 9389 (creating Baybay City in Leyte), 9390 (Bogo City in Cebu), 9391 (Catbalogan City in Samar), 9392 (Tandag City in Surigao del Sur), 9393 (Lamitan City in Basilan), 9394 (Borongan City in Samar), 9398 (Tayabas City in Quezon), 9404 (Tabuk City in Kalinga), 9405 (Bayugan City in Agusan del Sur), 9407 (Batac City in Ilocos Norte), 9408 (Mati City in Davao Oriental), 9409 (Guihulngan City in Negros Oriental), 9434 (Cabadbaran City in Agusan del Norte), 9435 (El Salvador City in Misamis Oriental), 9436 (Carcar City in Cebu) and 9491 (Naga City in Cebu).
Concurring with the decision were Justices Renato C. Corona, Teresita J. Leonardo-De Castro, Lucas P. Bersamin, Roberto A. Abad, and Martin S. Villarama Jr. Justice Antonio T. Carpio wrote a dissenting opinion and was joined by Justices Conchita Carpio Morales, Arturo D. Brion and Diosdado M. Peralta, the SC said in a press statement.
Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno, Antonio Eduardo B. Nachura and Mariano C. Del Castillo did not take part.
The SC said that based on deliberations in Congress, the “clear legislative intent” was that the pending cityhood bills would be exempted from the increased income
requirement.
Senate Bill 2159, which raised the income requirement, was still being debated on when the 16 towns became cities.
“RA 9009 would not have any retroactive effect insofar as the cityhood bills are concerned,” the SC said.
“To impose on them (the new cities) the much higher income requirement after what they have gone through would appear to be indeed unfair,” the SC said.
It said that the League of Cities “cannot plausibly invoke the equal protection clause precisely because no deprivation of property results by virtue of the enactment of the cityhood laws.”
Bogo City Mayor Celestino “Junie” Martinez Jr. said he hopes the city will get the IRA not given from May to December this year, when their IRA was reverted to municipal levels.
Bogo receives an IRA of P70 million a year as a municipality, but more than P180 million as a city.
“I’m very happy because the funds as city will be given and the projects of the city will continue,” said Carcar City Mayor Mario Patricio Barcenas.
Provincial Board Member Jose Ma. Gastardo of the fourth district, where Bogo City belongs, believes Bogo is qualified to become a city.
Bogo has already created the City Prosecutor’s Office, City Assessor’s Office and a Department of Education–Bogo City division. While operations in the newly created offices were not crippled, there were questions on how these could be sustained using a municipality’s IRA.
What was affected in Bogo was the building of a market, which Martinez said he halted because of funding concerns.
Pimentel, however, said he is not sure whether the “league of 16” will be accepted as members of the League of Cities of the Philippines.
“Galit sila sa amin. Swapang ‘yon eh (They are mad at us because they are selfish),” said Pimentel in an interview with Sun.Star Cebu.
“If they won’t accept us, we can formally create the League of Rural Cities,” said Pimentel.
For his part, Martinez said, “We will see later on. It’s finished anyway so let’s not try to create trouble. But if they will not accept us then so be it. If they will, well and good.”
Martinez called it a relief to finally get an answer from the SC.
Both he and Pimentel are optimistic that SC will not change its mind anymore if the LCP will contest the latest ruling.
----------------------------------------------------------------SC okays 16 new cities
Tribunal reverses earlier decision
MANILA, Philippines—The Supreme Court Tuesday declared as valid and constitutional 16 republic acts that converted 16 municipalities into cities while exempting them from a law that requires towns to have an income of P100 million yearly to vie for cityhood.
In an en banc session, the high tribunal voted 6-4 to grant the second motion for reconsideration filed by the towns that lost their city status because of the court’s decision on Nov. 18, 2008, that found their “cityhood laws” unconstitutional.
The Supreme Court, with a deadlocked vote of six apiece, upheld on April 28, 2009, the nullification of the 16 laws because of a common provision exempting them from the annual-income requirement as it supposedly violated the equal-protection clause.
The tribunal said in its April ruling that all issues in the motion for reconsideration had already been resolved when it rendered its November 2008 decision.
In a decision penned by Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco, the Supreme Court ruled that a deadlocked vote did not reflect the majority of the tribunal members and went on to decide that there was no violation of the equal protection clause in the cityhood laws.
The Supreme Court, thus, restored the validity of the cityhood laws that created the cities out of the 16 towns.
The 16 new cities are Baybay in Leyte; Bogo in Cebu; Catbalogan in Samar; Tandag in Surigao del Sur; Borongan in Eastern Samar; Tayabas in Quezon province; Lamitan in Basilan; Tabuk in Kalinga; Bayugan in Agusan del Sur; Batac in Ilocos Norte; Mati in Davao Oriental; Guihulngan in Negros Oriental; Cabadbaran in Agusan del Norte; Carcar in Cebu; El Salvador in Misamis Oriental and Naga in Cebu.
Seeking cityhood before 2001
The high court said all 16 municipalities had been seeking cityhood—along with 33 other towns that eventually became cities—even before the passage of Republic Act No. 9009 in June 2001.
RA 9009 amended the Local Government Code to raise the income requirement for towns to become cities from P20 million to P100 million.
The tribunal said the impeachment trial of then President Joseph Estrada in Congress in 2000 came in the way of the passage of the cityhood laws covering the respondent municipalities.
“Respondent municipalities and the 33 other cities, which had already been elevated to city status, were all found to be qualified under the old Section 450 of the Local Government Code of 1991 during the 11th Congress,” the Supreme Court said.
“As such, both respondent LGUs [local government units] and the 33 other former municipalities are under like circumstances and conditions. There is, thus, no rhyme or reason why an exemption from the P100-million requirement cannot be given to the respondent LGUs,” the tribunal added.
Qualified for exemption
The Supreme Court, however, clarified that only LGUs with pending cityhood applications before the passage of RA 9009 would qualify for exemption from the stringent income requirement.
“It is hard to imagine, however, if there are still municipalities out there belonging in context to the same class as the 16 respondent LGUs. Municipalities that cannot claim to belong to the same class as the 16 cannot seek refuge in the cityhood laws,” the tribunal said.
“The former have to comply with the P100-million income requirement imposed by RA 9009,” it said.
League of cities
The League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP), represented by its president, Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas, questioned the cityhood laws.
He cited the violation of the equal-protection clause allegedly posed by the common provision of exempting the 16 towns from the higher-income requirement.
The league also expressed fear that the existing cities would suffer a reduced share in the internal revenue allotment (IRA) because of the creation of additional cities presumably with low income.
The IRA is a subsidy given by the national government to LGUs.
“In the proceedings at bar, petitioner LCP and the intervenors cannot plausibly invoke the equal-protection clause, precisely because no deprivation of property results by virtue of the enactment of the cityhood laws,” the Supreme Court said.
Cut in IRA allocation
The tribunal said the LCP claim that the IRA of its member cities would be substantially reduced because of the conversion into cities of the 16 towns would not suffice “to bring it within the ambit of constitutional guarantee.”
“Indeed it is presumptuous on the part of the LCP member cities to already stake a claim on the IRA, as if it were their property, as the IRA is yet to be allocated,” the court said.
The number of cities in the country has more than doubled from 61 in 1977 to 136 in 2007.
This increase has significantly reduced the share of the internal revenue allotment (IRA) of existing cities.
The IRA is the share of provinces, cities, municipalities and barangays from national tax collections.
Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya said that the existing cities would lose an average of P2 million from their IRA share for every additional new city.
Some mayors have recommended the increase of the percentage share of the IRA for cities.
Before the recent Supreme Court decision, 120 cities and 81 provinces each had a 21-percent shared in the IRA, while 1,494 municipalities share 34 percent, and 41,900 barangays, 20 percent.
Citing results of his own studies, Naga City Jesse Mayor Robredo said that the provinces’ share in the IRA had increased by 161 percent, the municipalities’ share by 168 percent, but the cities’ share by only 49 percent.
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