MATI Mayor Michelle Rabat refuted claims of Mandaluyong Mayor Benjamin Abalos Jr. that the League of 16 is not respecting the Supreme Court's decision over the cityhood issue.

Abalos, president of the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP), condemned the tactics being employed by the League of 16 -- sixteen cities ordered reverted to municipalities by the SC -- which they said are illegal considering the High Court had already decided with finality.

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Abalos was quoted in newspaper reports as saying that "instead of respecting the rule of law and the court's final decision, the municipalities continue to employ sneaky tactics intended to reverse what has already been decided with finality."

In her reaction, Rabat reminded Abalos that the League of 16 had pending petitions before the SC even before the May 21, 2009 final decision of the High Court on the cityhood case.

"The justices just took it up to decide on the 6-6 decision. The LCP was asked to answer. What's wrong with that," Rabat said.

On Abalos, Rabat simply said: "Thinkers are doers, kung sino ang nag-iisip sila ang gumawa."

In reports basing on the LCP statement, Abalos claimed that the 16 municipalities have been writing private letters to the individual justices of the SC in order to persuade them to change their votes in the case.

They even wrote to the Clerk of Court to recall the Entry of Judgment issued in the case in May 2009, the LCP was quoted as saying.

"The municipalities have been filing prohibited pleadings in the court to secure the votes of justices who have actually inhibited themselves from the case. The municipalities continue to violate the orders of the court by filing one motion after another for the purpose of overturning the final decision of the court that had in fact been executed and implemented," the LCP statement said.

League of 16 supporters said Abalos and the LCP are only worried that their huge shares of the internal revenue allotment would again be reduced if ever the High Court, this time around, decides in favor of the municipalities.

The LCP have long been accused of greediness by the local officials for blocking the cityhood of the League of 16. The LCP's move had caused thousands of job displacements in the 16 municipalities and loss of millions of pesos of projects and developments in the rural areas. (BOT)