Supreme Court strikes down cityhood of 16 towns

The Supreme Court (SC) declared as unconstitutional the laws converting 16 municipalities into cities because Congress did not follow the "criteria established in the Local Government Code (LGC)."

Voting 7-5, the SC en banc granted the petition and petitions-in-intervention filed by the League of Cities of the Philippines and several provincial government officials seeking to nullify 16 cityhood laws in a decision penned by Associate Justice Antonio Carpio

The 16 laws cover the laws on the cityhood of the following municipalities: Baybay in Leyte; Bogo in Cebu; Catbalogan in Samar; Tandag in Surigao del Sur; Borongan in Eastern Samar; Tayabas in Quezon province; Lamitan in Basilan; Tabuk in Kalinga Apayao; Bayugan in Agusan del Sur; Batac in Ilocos Norte; Mati in Davao Oriental; Guihulngan in Negros Oriental; Cabadbaran in Agusan del Norte; Carcar in Cebu; El Salvador in Misamis Oriental; and Naga in Cebu.

According to the high court, the cityhood laws violated Sections 10, Article X of the Constitution as well as the equal protection clause.

Section 10 provides that "no province, city, municipality or barangay shall be created, divided, merged, abolished or its boundary substantially altered, except in accordance with the criteria established in the local government code and subject to approval by a majority of the votes cast in a plebiscite in the political units directly affected.

The high court also said that the cityhood laws also violate Section 6, Article X of the Constitution as it prevented a fair and just distribution of the national taxes to local government units.

Chief Justice Reynato Puno, Senior Associate Justice Leonardo Quisumbing, Associate Justices Ma. Alicia Austria-Martinez, Conchita Carpio Morales, Presbitero Velasco, Jr, and Arturo Brion concurred with the ruling.

Associate Justices Ruben Reyes, Teresita Leonardo-De Castro, Minita Chico-Nazario, Adolfo Azcuna and Renato Corona dissented, while Associate Justices Dante Tinga and Antonio Eduardo Nachura took no part in the deliberations. Associate Justice Consuelo Ynares-Santiago is on leave.

During the 11th Congress, the House of Representatives enacted into law 33 bills converting 33 municipalities into cities. However, Congress did not act on bills converting 24 other municipalities into cities.

“Mad rush”

In the 12th Congress, both houses of Congress passed into law Republic Act No. (R.A.) 9009, which took effect on June 30, 2001, amending Section 450 of the Local Government Code by increasing the annual income requirement for conversion of a municipality into a city from P20 million to P100 million.

The amendment was made to restrain the "mad rush" of municipalities to convert into cities solely to secure a larger share in the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) despite the fact that they are incapable of fiscal independence.

After the effectivity of R.A. 9009, the House of Representatives during the 12th Congress adopted Joint Resolution No. 29, which seeks to exempt from the P100 million income requirement the 24 municipalities whose cityhood bills were not approved in the 11th Congress.

But only 16 out of the 24 municipalities filed through their respective sponsors their respective cityhood bills.

Both houses of Congress later approved the cityhood bills which lapsed into law on various dates from March to July 2007.

Constitutional criteria

In declaring the said cityhood laws as unconstitutional, the 15-member tribunal stressed that the Constitution requires that Congress shall prescribe all the criteria for the creation of a city in the Local Government Code and not in any other law, including the cityhood laws.

"The Constitution is clear. The creation of local government units must follow the criteria established in the Local Government Code and not in any other law. There is only one Local Government Code. The Constitution requires Congress to stipulate in the Local Government Code all the criteria necessary for the creation of a city, including the conversion of a municipality into a city. Congress cannot write such criteria in any other law, like the Cityhood Laws," the SC ruling pointed out.

Besides, the SC said the cityhood laws failed to adhere to the provisions of Section 450 of the LGC, as amended by R.A. 9009.

The SC stressed that Congress, in enacting RA 9009, did not provide any exemption from the increased income requirement, not even to the respondent municipalities.

"Since the law is clear, plain and unambiguous that any municipality desiring to convert into a city must meet the increased income requirement, there is no reason to go beyond the letter of the law in applying Section 450 of the Local Government Code, as amended by R.A. 9009," the high court said.

"Furthermore, limiting the exemption to the 16 municipalities violates the requirement that the classification must apply to all similarly situated. Municipalities with the same income as the 16 respondent municipalities cannot convert into cities, while the 16 respondent municipalities can. Clearly, as worded the exemption provision found in the Cityhood laws, even if it were written in Section 450 of the Local Government Code, would still be unconstitutional for violation of the equal protection clause," the SC said. ABS-CBN,  Manila Bulletin

Two Kalinga business establishments got CE seal of excellence

TABUK CITY, Kalinga – Two business establishments here were awarded the Certified Establishment (CE) seal of excellence by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) after complying with trade and industry laws.

Josie Daliyong of DTI-Kalinga said Tabuk Lumber and Hardware and Kalinga Lumber and Hardware were among the 26 other awardees in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) given the seal during the culminating program of Consumer Welfare Month at the Atrium Hall, SM Baguio City, last week.

Those who qualified for the distinct award in business met the requirements in providing benefits to their employees like minimum wage, social security services, Philhealth and other employment benefits.

Tabuk Lumber and Hardware was handed the Silver Award for meeting the Minimum wage, SSS, and Philhealth requirements, while Kalinga Lumber Hardware qualified for Bronze for satisfying the fair trade law.

The highest Gold Award, which is still highly coveted in the region, is to be determined by the International Standards Organization (ISO), with more requirements.

Daliyong said the program is a reward mechanism encouraging business firms to be more socially responsible and enable them to regulate their own operations and satisfy employment conditions mandated by law.

To ensure that these services are sustained, DTI conducts constant monitoring among business establishments, making it a regular project of the department, Daliyong said.

Last year, T. Bayle Supermart was awarded the CE seal of excellence. It is the first qualifier in the province. **By Larry Lopez, ZZW

Kalinga hunger task force prepares action plan

TABUK CITY, Kalinga – Members of the Provincial Accelerated Hunger Mitigation Program (AHMP) Task Force prepared an action plan aimed to mitigate hunger in the province and uplift the development status of the municipalities of Tanudan, Tinglayan, and Pasil identified in the latest economic survey as among the poorest in the country.

Chaired by Gov. Floydelia Diasen, front line agencies and offices signed a pledge of commitment to help mitigate hunger in the province. They declared their genuine commitment and duty to uphold the basic human right to food and good nutrition. Along with their pledge is their affirmation to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger in the province.

The task force targets to reduce subsistence incidence of population from 17.7% in 2000 to 8.85% and poverty incidence from 39.3% to 19.65% by 2015.

The AHMP is a flagship program of the Arroyo administration as a mitigating measure to reduce hunger pursuant to the MDG. Kalinga ranks No. 9 as a food poor province thus including it as a beneficiary of the AHMP program under priority two.

The key players for AHMP are grouped into five committees where offices of related tasks will work to “increase food production”, “enhance efficiency of logistics and food delivery,” “put more money in poor people’s pockets,” “promote good nutrition,” and “manage population.”

Under “increase food production” chaired by the Office on Agricultural Service, the group committed to implement the Gulayan sa Paaralan including the distribution of seeds to 236 elementary schools and 36 high schools; subsidies on certified seeds and fertilizers to farmers.

Under “food distribution” chaired by the National Food Authority (NFA) with DSWD, DepEd will be the distribution of cheap rice; operation of Tindahan Natin Outlets, SEA-K, Kalahi-CIDDS, Pantawid Pampamilyang Pilipino Program, noodle feeding for 80 days in Magabbangon, Eleb, Allaguia, Malalao, Guilayon, Butbut; and vita-meal feeding for below normal weight children.

DENR has already distributed Sasou chickens to 50 poor families who are victims of typhoon Mina in Cawagayan and Mapaco in Pinukpuk. The DPWH committed construction and rehabilitation of farm to market roads and MPPs and the food for work scheme. NIA worked on the P42.5 million worth of Communal Irrigation System implemented in the province as its counterpart to AHMP.

Diasen directed other members of each committee to come up with an action plan for presentation next week and to start all activities by reaching out to the various municipalities. **PIA

Kalinga coffee farmers draft micro-business plan

TABUK CITY, Kalinga – Members of the Gawidan Coffee Farmers Association (GCFA), here drafted a 3-year micro-business plan aimed at promoting civet coffee production under the Rural Micro-enterprise Promotion Program (RuMEPP).

Noryn Bagano of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) provincial office said the plan emphasizes development of a civet coffee product, which is acclaimed to be the best coffee blend.

Kalinga is producing three top brewed-coffee classes in the market, Kalinga Brew, Kalinga Blend and Mananig Coffee.

RuMEPP under DTI assists small business entrepreneurs by providing them business management capabilities through trainings on simple book keeping, marketing and financial planning.

This is in line with government program on job creation and provision of livelihood opportunities among low-income families in the countryside in the fight against poverty and hunger.

Civet coffee production is a part of the product development component which DTI is advocating for small business groups for them to maximize income out of their limited business ventures, Bagano explained.

The three-year plan, according to Bagano, will give a pathway for growth and sustainability for GCFA so that within the period they will have a business focus.

It has been a common observation that small entrepreneurs only operate for one to two years because of lack of proper business capability and direction. This is the need the RuMEPP program aims to answer, Bagano said.

After its capability building, small entrepreneurs can obtain a financial aid from the program, as an association, ranging from P200,000 to P2 million with a minimum interest rate of 8-10% per annum.

In the planning, GCFA also wants to expand to other resource-based activities like coffee seedling production to supply other farmers.

This is eyed as a lucrative enterprise with coffee now becoming a high source of income among farmers, reaching the P75/kilo price on the last season.

Aside from providing business management capability, DTI advocated to the group proper business discipline. **By Larry Lopez, ZZW

PGMA urged to overturn geothermal contract in Kalinga

Residents and elders of barangay Dananao in Tinglayan, Kalinga are asking President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to cancel the Geothermal Service Contract (GSC)whose coverage include their ancestral domain because they have not given their consent thereto.

A declaration of condemnation and protest was signed by at least 105 Dananao residents against the GSC awarded on Sept. 24, 2008 to APEC-GMC, a private company. Their main grounds are they have not given their consent nor was there any consultation held in their community.

The APEC-GMC applied for a geothermal exploration permit covering parts of Pasil, Tinglayan and Lubuagan. The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples conducted the Free Prior and Informed Consent process in the Pasil areas and the people there eventually gave their consent paving the way for the issuance by the NCIP of Certificate Precondition to APEC-GMC. The certification, however, according to the NCIP Kalinga office covers only the Pasil areas and does not include the Lubuagan and Tinglayan areas.

The problem is the DOE issued a general permit according to the Dananao people. Gaspar Dawing, the punong barangay of Dananao, forwarded to President Arroyo the protest last October 22. This is a bold encroachment into our ancestral domain and we see it as a threat to peace and development, Dawing said in his covering letter.

Earlier in September, the barangay captains of the affected communities of Lubuagan and Tinglayan expressed protest against the contract which was endorsed by the mayors of the two municipalities and also by Gov. Floydelia Diasen. Despite this the contract was signed by APEX-GMC and the DOE.

In the declaration of condemnation and protest the tribe also challenged its municipal and provincial officials: “That we live and advocate peace and development, but not this kind marked with dictatorship and treachery for it brings intra- and inter-tribal havoc and may even lead to open tribal wars if not appropriately handled.”

The tribe is also inviting neighboring tribes to join in its condemnation and protest. **By Joel B. Belinan, ZZW

Separate schools division for Tabuk City eyed

Tabuk City, Kalinga – The city government here is spearheading a move to establish an ad interim schools division while waiting for the creation of a regular schools division for the city.

The Local School Board (LSB) of the city has set the ball rolling by passing a resolution requesting Education Secretary Jesli Lapus for the establishment of an ad interim division during its special meeting on November 6.

Mayor Camilo Lammawin, Jr. informed that the resolution when endorsed by the Sangguniang Panlungsod, the schools division superintendent and the regional director of the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Sangguniang Panlalawigan is the initial requirement for the establishment of an ad interim schools division.

The other two requirements, according to Lammawin, are a certification of willingness of employees of the DepEd to be deployed in the ad interim division and also the presence of at least 750 teaching and non-teaching staff in the locality.

Lammawin said that at the moment, there are around 800 DepEd employees assigned to the city with around a 100 more working in the private sector.

Lammawin said that the ad interim division is a de facto division although not regular.

“It will function just like a regular division in preparation for the amendment of the charter of the city or the passage of bill for the creation of a regular schools division,” Lammawin said.

In his speech during the opening program of the first city sports meet on November 6, Congressman Manuel Agyao has pledged that he will fully support the establishment of an ad interim division and that later on, he will work for the amendment of the city charter for the creation of a separate schools division.

Lammawin expressed the hope that the interim set up will be in place by January 2009 even as he informed that towards that end, P1.5 M is allocated in the 2009 executive budget P1M of which is for MOOE and the P0.5M for office equipment outlay.

“We believe that having a schools division will make the city more responsive and resilient for the continued growth and accelerated development of education and sports in the city,” Lammawin said.

Lammawin said that the establishment of an ad interim schools division will mean closer working relationship between the LGU and the DepEd especially in the provision of trainings to improve the capabilities of teachers which will redound to the benefit of students. **By Estanislao Albano Jr., ZZW