The birth of three cities in Cebu

CEBU, Philippines - After almost three years, the Supreme Court finally rendered its final verdict on June last year, reinstating the Cityhood Laws of the 16 local government units, including three in Cebu.

It was on June 30, 2011 when the High Court ordered for the entry of judgment of the case of the 16 new cities thereby sealing with finality the constitutionality of their being cities.

The order was enshrined in an eight-page decision penned by Justice Lucas Bersamin, in which it stated that the court will no longer entertain anymore motions coming from the petitioner, League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP).

To recall, in November 18, 2008, the SC en banc then headed by Chief Justice Reynato Puno, first declared that the laws creating the 16 new cities are unconstitutional. Barely a year later, the SC reversed itself following a motion for reconsideration from the 16 cities, but changed it again in August 24, 2010 favoring LCP’s motion for reconsideration.

Around this time, the cities of Naga, Carcar, and Bogo, being among those affected, had almost lost their hopes.

 And the toll had worsened when the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) in May 2009 slashed their internal revenue allotment (IRA) by more than a half.

But despite that, the fight, with first district Rep. Eduardo Gullas, being responsible for the conversion of Naga and Carcar into cities, as among those in the frontline, continued.

The 16 cities, with former Solicitor General Estilito Mendoza as their legal counsel, did not stop assailing LCP’s contention that they violated the provisions in Republic Act 9009, specifically the income requirement.

Gullas said before RA 9009 became a law in 2007, lawmakers including himself who had pending Cityhood Bills (there were 24 at that time, but only 16 made it through) at the Congress had an agreement with its author Sen. Aquilino Pimentel that their bills would not be affected by this new law.

With Pimentel agreeing to the terms, there was a joint resolution on this 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, both Carcar and Naga’s cityhood bills were still passed even with the existence of this new law.

The purpose of increasing the income requirement from P20 million to P100 million—wherein all of the 16 towns did not meet during their conversion into cities in 2007—was to regulate the mushrooming of cities. At that time, the LCP had already more than 100 members, and according to the group, the addition of the new 16 cities had deprived them of the “just share” of the national income as stated in Sec. 450 of the Local Government Code.

But the 16 cities argued, saying that the SC should respect the will of the Congress and the sovereign mandate of the people who ratified their laws in plebiscites.

The new cities finally attained the final decision of the High Tribunal, already headed by Chief Justice Renato Corona, on their favor in June last year.

The battle did not end there, however, as the DBM refused to give them back their city-value IRA despite the latest ruling.

At this time, the cities of Naga, Carcar, Bogo, and the rest of the affected local government units were not only expecting to immediately get their IRA being cities, but also be repaid for the past two years since the share cut.

And while the first hope will be granted this year, with Naga, for instance, getting about P200 million as IRA for the entire year, the last is not likely, especially that the national government collected less in revenues last year, resulting to the decrease of shares of almost all LGUs all over the country. - THE FREEMAN