LCP keeps an eye against 16 towns

The League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) has formed a legal team to serve as watchdogs against 16 municipalities who wished to be converted into cities. City Mayor Sammy Co disclosed in a media briefing over the weekend that the 120-member cities of LCP continue to be vigilant despite the Supreme Court decision who voted in 6-5 in favor of LCP.


“It was a closed matter but the city mayors remain watchful,” said Co, adding that the cityhood of 16 towns may affect the interests of existing cities.”

It may be recalled that in 2007, LCP questioned before the High Court the city conversions of 16 towns that did not comply with the requirements set forth in the Local Government Code (LGC) as amended by Republic Act No. 9009.

The Supreme Court supported the claims of the LCP and emphasized that the various laws creating the 16 cities violated the Constitution and the Local Government Code.

Accordingly, the cityhood laws are unconstitutional because it violated Sections 6 and 10, Article X of the 1987 Constitution, which provides that “no province, city, municipality or barangay shall be created, divided, merged, abolished or its boundary substantially altered, except in accordance with the criteria established in the Local Government Code and subject to approval by a majority of the votes cast in a plebiscite in the political units directly affected.”

In a 24-page decision written by Associate Justice Antonio T. Carpio, the High Court said, “The Constitution is clear. The creation of local government units must follow the criteria established in the Local Government Code and not in any other law.”

“There is only one Local Government Code. The Constitution requires Congress to stipulate in the Local Government Code all the criteria necessary for the creation of a city, including the conversion of a municipality into a city. Congress cannot write such criteria in any other law, like the Cityhood Laws,” added Carpio.

The said laws exempted the 16 municipalities from the P100 locally-generated income requirement in RA 9009. They were approved in February 2007 and lapsed into law on various dates from March to July 2007 without President Gloria Macapagal’s signature.

The decision also noted that the cityhood laws even ignored Section 450 of the LGC as amended by RA 9009.

“The LGC Section 450 sets minimum income requirement for a town to be a city at Php 20 million. RA 9009 amended the provision increasing the minimum income requirement to Php 100 million locally-generated income. None of the 16 municipalities, however, met the P100-million income requirement at the time their cityhood laws were passed.”

It was learned the High Court also declared the cityhood laws as unconstitutional for violating the equal protection clause.

“Exemption provision contains no classification standards or guidelines differentiating the exempted municipalities from those that are not exempted,” the Court pointed out.

“Limiting the exemption to the 16 municipalities violates the requirement that the classification must apply to all similarly situated. Municipalities with the same income as the 16 respondent municipalities cannot convert into cities, while the 16 respondent municipalities can. Clearly, as worded, the exemption provision found in the cityhood laws, even if it were written in Section 450 of the Local Government Code, would still be unconstitutional for violation of the equal protection clause,” the SC said.

“This is not a valid classification between those entitled and those not entitled to exemption from the P100 million income requirement.” the SC added.

As vice-president of LCP, Mayor Co is warning his fellow mayors not to be complacent as the Supreme Court decision is not yet final.

Concerning the matter, the official LCP statement said, “The LCP would like to reiterate that we are not against the conversion of municipality into city. What we object is the conversion of a municipality that is not yet prepared to become a city and which has not complied with the requirements of the Constitution and the law.”

The sixteen cityhood laws cover the municipalities of 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 Apayao; 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.