Vol. XXII, No. 83 [ BusinessWorld Online ]
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES
THE SUPREME COURT struck down a law that upgraded the status of several local governments.
In a 24-page decision penned by Associate Justice Antonio T. Carpio, the high court en banc backed the complaint of the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) that 16 so-called cityhood laws were unconstitutional.
The LCP questioned the conversion of municipalities into cities to protect their internal revenue allotment (IRA) share. IRAs come from national tax proceeds.
"The clear intent of the Constitution is to insure that the creation of cities and other political units must follow the same uniform, nondiscriminatory criteria found solely in the Local Government Code," the high court said.
Six other magistrates concurred, five dissented, two abstained and one was on official leave.
The cityhood bills automatically lapsed into laws on various dates in March to July 2007.
The laws covered the municipalities of Baybay, Leyte; Bogo, Carcar and Naga (Cebu province); Catbalogan (Samar); Tandag (Surigao del Sur); Borongan (Eastern Samar); Tayabas (Quezon); Lamitan (Basilan); Tabuk (Kalinga); Bayuga (Agusan del Sur); Batac (Ilocos Norte); Mati (Davao Oriental); Guihulngan (Negros Oriental); Cabadbaran (Agusan del Norte); and El Salvador (Misamis Oriental).
The cityhood laws exempted the upgraded municipalities from the income requirement in the amended Local Government Code. Republic Act (RA) 9009, which took effect on June 30, 2001, set the minimum income requirement before a municipality could be converted to a city to P100 million from P20 million.
This high court said the creation of local government units must follow the criteria established in the Local Government Code.
"Congress cannot write such criteria in any other law, like the cityhood laws," it said, adding RA 9009 did not provide exemptions from the income requirement. — IPP
