LCP moves to block holding of plebiscites for additional cities
The League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) has lamented the creation of new cities that do not meet the income requirement of cityhood and has asked the Supreme Court to stop the holding of plebiscites that would convert more towns into new cities.
In an Urgent Motion for Issuance of Writs of Preliminary Injunction and/or a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) filed on June 5, the 118-member LCP asked the High Court to bar the mayors and treasurers of 12 municipalities from implementing provisions of cityhood laws including the holding of plebiscites to ratify the towns' cityhood.
The cityhood bills lapsed into laws after President Macapagal-Arroyo failed to sign them a month after they were submitted to Malacañang in February. The laws take effect after majority of the voters in the municipalities approve the conversion of their towns through a plebiscite.
At least four of the 12 towns have been converted into cities this month after their residents voted in a plebiscite to support their cityhood. These include the cities of Bogo in Cebu, Borongan in Eastern Samar, Lamitan in Basilan and Mati in Davao Oriental.
The other towns that are scheduled to be converted into cities are the municipalities of Baybay (Leyte), Catbalogan (Western Samar), Tandag (Surigao del Sur), Tayabas (Quezon), Tabuk (Kalinga), Bayugan (Agusan del Sur), Batac (Ilocos Norte) and Guihulngan (Negros Oriental).
Calbayog City Mayor Mel Senen Sarmiento, LCP Secretary General, said they are "saddened" with what has happened but will pursue their case before the High Court.
"We are hoping that the Supreme Court will issue a ruling on our petitions soon to prevent the holding of more plebiscites," Sarmiento said in a telephone interview.
Sarmiento said that even if they cannot stop those that have already held plebiscites, they still want to prevent the "wholesale conversion of towns into cities even if they do not meet income requirements."
The LCP on March 27 and May 4 filed petitions for prohibition asking the SC to nullify 12 cityhood laws because the towns do meet the income requirements of cityhood.
In its petition, the LCP said the cityhood laws should be declared null and void because the laws are "in grave and irreparable violation" of the Constitution.
It pointed out that under Republic Act 9009, 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 either have a land area of at least 100 square kilometers or a population of 150,000.
The 12 towns have annual locally generated incomes ranging from P62 million to P82 million.
The LCP said in its petition that the granting of "undue special treatment to the (12) municipalities violates the Constitution's equal protection clause providing that all persons shall be treated equally in law."
The LCP believes that the conversion of towns into cities that do not meet the income requirements will drastically cut the share of each city in Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA).
The IRA is the tax share of local government units, which get 40 centavos of every peso in taxes collected by the government.
Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. had earlier estimated that each of the 118 cities (before the conversion of new ones) will lose at least P2 million of their IRA share with the addition of new cities or a total of around P3.7 billion. Cities which have a bigger IRA share will have a bigger cut.
The IRA share of Iloilo City would be cut by P35 million and around P200 million for Davao City, Iloilo City Mayor and LCP President Jerry Treñas said in an earlier interview.