LCP seeks TRO vs plebiscite for approval of new cities
City Mayor Jerry Treñas hopes to get a temporary restraining order (TRO) from the Supreme Court (SC) to stop the Commission on Elections (Comelec) from conducting a plebiscite to coincide with the forthcoming May 14 elections for the conversion of six municipalities in the country into new cities.
The League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP), which Treñas heads, filed the petition with the SC last March 27, 2007.
Named respondents to the petition are the Comelec and the six municipalities, namely, Baybay, Bogo, Catbalogan, Tandag, Borongan and Tayabas. The petition covers the Cityhood Law that seeks to convert the municipalities of Baybay (Leyte), Bogo (Cebu), Catbalogan (Samar), Tandag (Agusan del Sur), Borongan (Samar) and Tayabas (Quezon) into cities without complying with the minimum requirement of P100 million in locally generated income, contrary to the requirements of the Local Government Code as amended by Republic Act No. 9009.
The six municipalities are among the 16 towns which sought exemption from the requirements of the law. Congress recently approved the conversion into cities of said municipalities despite the failure to meet the requirements of Republic Act 9009.
Republic Act 9009 states that a town should have a locally generated income of at least P100 million annually before it could be classified into a city. It should also have a land area of at least 100 square kilometers or a population of 150,000.
It was learned from Treñas that the league will file similar suits against the other towns soon.
City mayors all over the country had strongly opposed the conversion of 16 municipalities into cities as this would decrease the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) share of the existing 118 cities in the country.