Tuesday, November 25, 2008 16 cities affected by SC ruling hire topnotch lawyer and obtain Enrile support
APART from hiring a topnotch lawyer, the “League of 16” has found an ally in newly-installed Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile in its effort to retain its cityhood status.
The mayors of the League of 16, whose cities were nullified in the recent Supreme Court ruling, met with Enrile over the weekend at a posh hotel in Manila, said Rep. Eduardo R. Gullas (Cebu, 1st district).
While Enrile expressed his support for the league’s efforts, the veteran senator said he has to consult his colleagues in the Senate on the matter, Gullas said.
Prior to Enrile’s arrival at the meeting, Gullas said the group had decided to tap the legal services of a topnotch Manila-based lawyer.
Gullas, who acted as the league’s presiding officer in that meeting, however, refused to name the lawyer in the meantime. He merely described him as brilliant and a veteran legal luminary.
All the legal papers, such as the high court decision, the pleadings of the 16 cities and other documents, will be submitted to the lawyer’s office at 3 p.m. today.
Also, the members of the League of 16 are set to meet the lawyer this Thursday afternoon, Gullas said.
Voting 6-5 with 2 abstentions, the SC ruled that the laws converting 16 municipalities into cities violated the Local Government Code.
It reportedly violated Section 450 of the amended RA 9009, which increased the annual income requirement for conversion of a municipality into a city from P20 million to P100 million.
But Gullas reiterated that the original bills of Carcar and Naga, were filed in the 11th Congress prior to the approval of the amendment of RA 9009.
Gullas authored the bills for these two cities, including Talisay’s, earning him the distinction of being the father of their respective city charters.
He said the amendment of RA 9009 was approved towards the dying days of the 11th Congress.
Also, Gullas said the charters of the 16 cities have a uniformly worded clause, which explicitly states their exemption of the amended law.
Gullas, a lawyer, said the fight for the retention of the cityhood of the 16 cities will have to deal with two important issues.
The first issue is whether the individual statutes and city charters violated Section 10, Article 10 of the Constitution, which sets the criteria of converting towns into cities.
The second issue is whether the 16 individual City Charters violated the equal protection clause of the Constitution.
Gullas said the SC verdict nullifying the 16 cityhoods did not only assail the wisdom of Congress but also the sovereign and legitimate will of the people.
He said the constituents of these new cities had spoken through plebiscites approving the charters.
Cebu’s new component cities of Bogo, Carcar and Naga, all members of the League of 16, celebrated their first Charter anniversaries this year.
The 13 other cities are Baybay in Leyte province, Catbalogan in Samar, Tandag in Surigao Del Sur, Borongan in Eastern Samar, Tayabas in Quezon, Lamitan in Basilan, Tabuk in Kalinga, Bayugan in Agusan Del Sur, Batac in Ilocos Norte, Mati in Davao Oriental, Guihulngan in Negros Oriental, Cabadbaran in Agusan Del Norte and El Salvador in Misamis Oriental. (GC)
