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HELD:
We grant the petitions.
in Section 450 of the Local Government Code, they prevent the fair
and just distribution of the Internal Revenue Allotment in violation
of Section 6, Article X of the Constitution.
The 11th Congress Intent was not Written into the Local
Government Code
The Constitution requires that the criteria for the conversion of a
municipality into a city, including any exemption from such criteria,
must all be written in the Local Government Code. Congress
cannot prescribe such criteria or exemption from such criteria in
any other law. In short, Congress cannot create a city through
a law that does not comply with the criteria or exemption
found in the Local Government Code.
Section 10 of Article X is similar to Section 16, Article XII of
the Constitution prohibiting Congress from creating private
corporations except by a general law. Section 16 of Article XII
provides:
The Congress shall not, except by general
law, provide for the formation, organization,
or regulation of private corporations.
Government-owned or controlled corporations
may be created or established by special
charters in the interest of the common good
and subject to the test of economic
viability. (Emphasis supplied)
Thus, Congress must prescribe all the criteria for the formation,
organization, or regulation of private corporations in a general
law applicable to all without discrimination. Congress cannot
create a private corporation through a special law or charter.
Deliberations of the 11th Congress on Unapproved
Bills Inapplicable
Congress
is
not
a
continuing
body.
th
The unapproved cityhood bills filed during the 11 Congress
became mere scraps of paper upon the adjournment of the
11th Congress. All the hearings and deliberations conducted during
the 11th Congress on unapproved bills also became worthless upon
the adjournment of the 11 thCongress. These hearings and
deliberations cannot be used to interpret bills enacted into law
in the 13th or subsequent Congresses.
The members and officers of each Congress are
different. All unapproved bills filed in one Congress
become functus officio upon adjournment of that Congress and
must be re-filed anew in order to be taken up in the next Congress.
Section 123, Rule XLIV of the Rules of the Senate, on Unfinished
Business, provides:
and
_____________________________________________________
laws,
are
_____________________________________________________
League of Cities of the Philippines vs. COMELEC, et al.
(August 24, 2010 Resolution)
FACTS:
On 18 November 2008, the Supreme Court En Banc, by a majority
vote, struck down the subject 16 Cityhood Laws for violating
Section 10, Article X of the 1987 Constitution and the equal
protection clause. On 31 March 2009, the Supreme Court En
Banc, again by a majority vote, denied the respondents' first motion
for reconsideration. On 28 April 2009, the Supreme Court En
Banc, by a split vote, denied the respondents' second motion for
reconsideration. Accordingly, the 18 November 2008 Decision
became final and executory and was recorded, in due course, in
the Book of Entries of Judgments on 21 May 2009.
However, after the finality of the 18 November 2008 Decision and
without any exceptional and compelling reason, the Court En
Banc unprecedentedly reversed the 18 November 2008 Decision
by upholding the constitutionality of the Cityhood Laws in the
Decision of 21 December 2009.
HELD:
1. The Cityhood Laws do not violate Section 10, Article X of
the Constitution
The tenor of the ponencias of the November 18, 2008 Decision and
the August 24, 2010 Resolution is that the exemption clauses in the
16 Cityhood Laws are unconstitutional because they are not written
in the Local Government Code of 1991 (LGC), particularly Section
450 thereof, as amended by Republic Act (R.A.) No. 9009.
Prior to the amendment, Section 450 of the LGC required only an
average annual income, as certified by the Department of Finance,
of at least P20,000,000.00 for the last two (2) consecutive years,
based on 1991 constant prices.
FACTS:
Before Senate Bill No. 2157, now R.A. No. 9009, was introduced
by Senator Aquilino Pimentel, there were 57 bills filed for
conversion of 57 municipalities into component cities. During the
11th Congress (June 1998-June 2001), 33 of these bills were
enacted into law, while 24 remained as pending bills. Among these
24 were the 16 municipalities that were converted into component
cities through the Cityhood Laws.
The rationale for the enactment of R.A. No. 9009 can be gleaned
from the sponsorship speech of Senator Pimentel on Senate Bill
No. 2157, to wit it is a fact that there is a mad rush of
municipalities wanting to be converted into cities.
While R.A. No. 9009 was being deliberated upon, Congress was
well aware of the pendency of conversion bills of several
municipalities, including those covered by the Cityhood Laws,
desiring to become component cities which qualified under the P20
million income requirement of the old Section 450 of the LGC. The
interpellation of Senate President Franklin Drilon of Senator
Pimentel is revealing.
_____________________________________________________
League of Cities of the Philippines vs. COMELEC, et al.
(February 15, 2011 Resolution)
R.A. No. 9009 took effect on June 30, 2001, when the
12th Congress was incipient. By reason of the clear legislative intent
to
exempt
the
municipalities covered by the conversion bills pending during
the 11th Congress, the House of Representatives adopted Joint
Resolution No. 29, entitled Joint Resolution to Exempt Certain
Municipalities Embodied in Bills Filed in Congress before June 30,
2001 from the coverage of Republic Act No. 9009. However, the
Senate failed to act on Joint Resolution No. 29. Even so, the
House of Representatives readopted Joint Resolution No. 29 as
Joint Resolution No. 1 during the 12th Congress, and forwarded
Joint Resolution No. 1 to the Senate for approval. Again, the
Senate failed to approve Joint Resolution No. 1.
The Court takes note of the fact that the municipalities cited
by the petitioners as having generated the threshold income
of P100 million from local sources, including those already
converted into cities, are either in Metro Manila or in provinces
close to Metro Manila. In comparison, the municipalities covered by
the Cityhood Laws are spread out in the different provinces of
the Philippines, including the Cordillera and Mindanao regions, and
are considerably very distant from Metro Manila. This reality
underscores the danger the enactment of R.A. No. 9009 sought to
prevent, i.e., that the metropolis-located local governments would
have more priority in terms of funding because they would have
more qualifications to become a city compared to the far-flung
areas in Mindanao or in the Cordilleras, or whatever, actually
resulting from the abrupt increase in the income requirement.
Verily, this result is antithetical to what the Constitution and LGC
have nobly envisioned in favor of countryside development and
national growth. Besides, this result should be arrested early, to
avoid the unwanted divisive effect on the entire country due to the
local government units closer to the National Capital Region being
afforded easier access to the bigger share in the national coffers
than other local government units.
As indicated in the Resolution of February 15, 2011, fiftynine (59) existing cities had failed as of 2006 to post an average
annual income of P100 million based on the figures contained in
the certification dated December 5, 2008 by the Bureau of Local
Government. The large number of existing cities, virtually 50% of
them, still unable to comply with the P100 million threshold income
five years after R.A. No. 9009 took effect renders it fallacious and
probably unwarranted for the petitioners to claim that the P100
million income requirement is not difficult to comply with.
In this regard, the deliberations on Senate Bill No. 2157 may
prove enlightening, thus: Otherwise, the danger here, if we
become lax in the requirements, is the metropolis-located
local governments would have more priority in terms of
funding because they would have more qualifications to
become a city compared to far-flung areas in Mindanao or in
the Cordilleras, or whatever.
450 of the LGC, they obviously did not meet the requirements set
forth under Section 453 of the LGC (Duty of the President to
declare highly urbanized status of cities that met the minimum
requirements for highly urbanized cities). Indeed, R.A. No. 9387
and R.A. No. 9388 evidently show that the President had not
classified San Juan and Navotas as highly urbanized cities upon
proper application and ratification in a plebiscite by the qualified
voters therein. A further perusal of R.A. No. 9387 reveals that San
Juan did not qualify as a highly urbanized city because it had a
population of only 125,558, contravening the required minimum
population of 200,000 under Section 452 of the LGC. Such nonqualification as a component city was conceded even by Senator
Pimentel during the deliberations on Senate Bill No. 2157.
The Cityhood Laws do not violate Section 6, Article X of the
Constitution
In this regard, it suffices to state that the share of local
government units is a matter of percentage under Section 285 of
the LGC, not a specific amount. Specifically, the share of the cities
is 23%, determined on the basis of population (50%), land area
(25%), and equal sharing (25%). This share is also dependent on
the number of existing cities, such that when the number of cities
increases, then more will divide and share the allocation for cities.
However, we have to note that the allocation by the National
Government is not a constant, and can either increase or
decrease. With every newly converted city becoming entitled to
share the allocation for cities, the percentage of internal revenue
allotment (IRA) entitlement of each city will decrease, although the
actual amount received may be more than that received in the
preceding year. That is a necessary consequence of Section 285
and Section 286 of the LGC.
WHEREFORE, the Ad
Cautelam Motion
for
Reconsideration (of the Decision dated 15 February 2011) is
denied with finality.