Chief Justice Puno, two other justices inhibit selves from LCP's petition
Chief Justice Reynato Puno and two other justices in the Supreme Court (SC) inhibited themselves from hearing the petition filed by the League of Cities in the Philippines (LCP) seeking moratorium in the creation of new cities in the country. As such, the 11 remaining justices gave the petitioner and respondents 30 days to file their memoranda.
City Mayor Jerry Treñas said Chief Justice Reynato Puno, Justice Antonio Eduardo Nachura and Justice Dante Tinga inhibited themselves from hearing the league's petition. Chief Justice Puno inhibited himself since the Puno Law Office is assisting the league in their petition before the Supreme Court.
Treñas said Justice Tinga inhibited because his son is a city mayor while Justice Nachura's root is from Samar. One of the six town's named in the petition is Borongan, Eastern Samar.
Named respondents to the petition are the Comelec and the six municipalities, namely, Baybay, Bogo, Catbalogan, Tandag 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.
Treñas said three inhibited themselves from participating in the deliberation of the league's petition in last Tuesday's hearing before the Supreme Court. It is the same reason why only 11 justices heard the league's pleadings since there is a vacant slot in the Supreme Court justices. It needs 2/3 of the votes or seven votes from the justices to resolve the petition.
The chief executive said the remaining 11 justices required both the petitioner and the respondents to submit their memoranda after last Tuesday's hearing. Both parties were given opportunity to present the argument. The presentation took more than five hours .The court will decide on their petition after they have submitted their respective memoranda. The league is confident of having a favorable decision from the Higher Court, said Treñas.