Supreme Court asked: Is Local Government Code still valid?

MANILA, Philippines - Lawyers and academics have joined the chorus of city mayors in asking the Supreme Court (SC) justices to explain their decision allowing the conversion into cities of towns that failed to meet the P100-million income requirement set by the Local Government Code.

“Is the Local Government Code still valid?” asked professor Edmund Tayao, executive director of the Local Government Development Foundation (LOGODEF) in a roundtable forum on cityhood held in Quezon City recently.

Tayao said members of academe and experts on governance were astonished when the SC flip-flopped, for the third time, on its earlier decision rejecting the creation of 16 new cities due to violation of the Constitution and the Local Government Code.

“We are wondering if the Local Government Code still functions as the enabling law that governs the creation of cities and other geo-political units,” he said.

Tayao explained that under Article X Section 10 of the Constitution, “No province, city, municipality, or barangay may be created, divided, merged, abolished, or its boundary substantially altered, except in accordance with the criteria established in the local government code.”

Under the Local Government Code, as amended by Republic Act 9009, a municipality may be converted into a component city only if it meets two of three requirements: locally generated average annual income of P100 million for the last two consecutive years and contiguous territory of at least 100 square kilometers or a population of not less than 150,000 inhabitants.

Alex Brillantes, former dean of the UP-National College on Public Administration and Governance (UP-NCPAG), said the P100-million income requirement is a “must” for a town to meet the qualifications of a city under the Local Government Code.

“Not only is the P100-million income required, a municipality must also meet the other requirement to become a city: 100 square-kilometer area or 150,000 population,” he said.

According to San Fernando, Pampanga Mayor Oscar Rodriguez, president of the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP), all the 16 towns allowed by the SC to become cities failed to meet the P100-million income requirement.

One of the towns, El Salvador in Misamis Oriental, even failed to meet all the requirements set by the Local Government Code on cityhood.

The other applicant-cities are: Batac, Ilocos Norte; Tabuk, Kalinga; Tayabas, Quezon; Baybay, Leyte; Catbalogan, Samar; Borongan, Eastern Samar; Guihulngan, Negros Oriental; Bogo, Naga, and Carcar in Cebu; Tandag, Surigao del Sur; Cabadbaran, Agusan del Norte; Mati, Davao Oriental; Bayugan, Agusan del Sur; and Lamitan, Basilan.

Eleuterio Dumugho, head of the Legislative Division and Political Affairs Office of former senator Aquilino Pimentel, said Congress amended the Local Government Code through RA 9009 to prevent unqualified towns from becoming cities.

“Sen. Pimentel and other members of Congress saw it fit to increase the income requirement from P20 million to P100 million to ensure that the new cities really fit the requirements as engines of growth in their provinces,” Dumugho explained.

Pimentel is the author of the Local Government Code.

Efren Moncupa, who was also part of the roundtable discussion, said this was the first time in his many years of legal practice that the SC reconsidered a decision which has been executed.

“I know of cases that were revived by the Supreme Court despite the entry of judgment, but this is the first time that I encountered a case where the High Tribunal resurrected one with executed judgment,” Moncupa pointed out.

“The entry of judgment is the last nail on the coffin, but the execution of judgment is the last speck of dust to cover your grave,” he added.

Moncupa said the SC must explain fully why this case was so special and unusual that the tribunal had to subject itself to ridicule by reopening a closed case and reversing its decision for the fourth time.

“There are many miracles but I’m sure this is not one that came from heaven,” he said in Filipino.

Apart from asking the SC to take a firm stand on the issue, both Tayao and Brillantes urged lawmakers to seriously consider revising the Local Government Code in order to prevent similar problems in the future.

They explained that the “criteria for cityhood should not be seen as a separate provision from the other parts of the Code and it (criteria) does not affect local governance as a whole.”