Gwen to meet mayors of ex-cities on budget

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia will be calling the mayors of Bogo, Carcar and Naga for a discussion on how the provincial government can help them especially on the budgetary aspect now that the Supreme Court declared the unconstitutionality of Cityhood Laws that created the three new cities.

The Supreme Court, in a 6-5 vote, ruled to deny with finality a motion for reconsideration filed by Naga, Carcar, Bogo and 13 other new cities in the country against an earlier ruling by the same court nullifying their city status.

Naga, Carcar and Bogo reportedly failed to meet the P100-million income requirement for new cities set by Republic Act 9009.

Garcia said there will be a big impact on the budget of Naga, Bogo and Carcar if they will be “downgraded to town again” because their Internal Revenue Allotment share from the national government will go back to the level of first-class municipalities.

Once Carcar reverts to town status, it will lose the P270 million it has been receiving as Internal Revenue Allotment and will go back to P90 million.

Naga is set to lose its P180 million IRA share and will go back to P66 million, while it would be back to P70 million for Bogo and not anymore the P160 million it is receiving.

Bogo became a city in June 2007 while Carcar and Naga attained the status in the succeeding two months, respectively.

According to the governor, she wants to meet with the three mayors concerned as soon as possible so that the province can immediately move to help the three cities that have recently lost their cityhood status.

It was the League of Cities of the Philippines that filed a petition before the high court seeking annulment of the cityhood of 16 cities, as the new cities failed to meet the income requirement set.

The League of Cities said that the conversion of more cities, particularly those that do not meet legal requirements, have resulted in lesser funds for older cities.

Puerto Princesa City in Palawan, for instance, received an IRA increase of only P1.7 million this year instead of the expected P146.7 million because of the conversion of the 16 new cities.

Davao City’s expected IRA declined from P263.5 million to only P69 million while Zamboanga City’s expected IRA share was slashed by P35.87 million.

Republic Act 9009 in 2001 has amended the income requirement from P20 million to P100 million. Both Naga and Carcar failed to meet the said requirement.

But Cebu 1st district Rep. Eduardo Gullas, who authored the laws converting Carcar and Naga to cities, said that when Senator Aquilino Pimentel defended RA 9009, they have agreed that the cityhood bills filed in the 11th Congress will not be affected by the increase in income requirement.

Gullas maintained that during the 12th Congress, RA 9009 was enacted into law that took effect on June 30, 2001.

According to him, there was a joint resolution which sought to exempt from the P100-million income requirement in RA 9009 the 24 municipalities whose cityhood bills were not approved in the 11th Congress. Hence, the Bogo, Carcar and Naga cityhood bills were still approved even with the existence of the new requirement.

With the decision of the Supreme Court, it will bring down the number of cities in the country back to 120.

Aside from Carcar, Naga and Bogo, the 13 other cities whose cityhood status were nullified by the Supreme Court are Batac in Ilocos Norte, Tabuk in Kalinga, Tayabas in Quezon, Baybay in Leyte, Catbalogan in Samar, Borongan in Eastern Samar, Guihulngan in Oriental Negros, Tandag in Surigao del Sur, Cabadbaran in Agusan del Norte, El Salvador in Misamis Oriental, Mati in Davao Oriental, Bayugan in Agusan del Sur and Lamitan in Basilan. – Garry B. Lao/MEEV   (THE FREEMAN)