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Thursday, February 14, 2008
Mati isn't qualified to be city, league says
DAVAO CITY -- The League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) insisted that Mati does not meet the mandated requirements prescribed by the Local Government Code to become a city, contrary to what its officials said.
The LCP was reacting to a Sun.Star article that came out on February 11, 2008, titled "Mati officials hit League of Cities."
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In a letter to Sun.Star dated February 15, the LCP "reiterated its position that it is not against the creation of cities as long as they meet the requirements of the law."
The LCP pointed out that the Local Government Code as amended by Republic Act 9009 states that towns converted into cities must pass the 150,000 population, and/or 100 square kilometer in land area and P100 million locally generated income.
Mati Vice Mayor Cesar de Erio, in the news story, claimed that Mati is one of the few who passed all the requirements for a town to become city. Erio was quoted as saying that the League of Cities is "swapang (greedy)... in its efforts to block the cityhood of some towns for the reasons that the Internal Revenue Allotment (of existing cities) would dramatically reduce."
The Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF) data, the letter said, showed that Mati has a population of 105,908,649 square kilometer in land area, and P23.2 million locally generated income in 2004.
"Mati is qualified in terms of its land area, but not with the population and the mandated income requirement," the LCP said.
LCP added that other municipalities took pains to meet the requirements so that they would qualify for the conversion like the municipalities of Sorsogon and Bacon, which merged to qualify and thus became Sorsogon City. In the same manner, Navotas City intensified its local income generation in order to meet the income requirement.
"To exempt some municipalities from these requirements therefore is grossly unfair to those towns that exerted efforts to comply," LCP said adding that it is not "greedy."
LCP said it fully supports the spread of development to the countryside.
The league said this is necessary to lessen migration from the rural areas into the cities. This is also to lessen the burden of cities in providing basic services for their constituents.
More than the issue of Internal Revenue Allotment, this is an issue of Congress abiding by the law that it has crafted. (Gigie Agtay/Sun.Star Davao)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Dumaguete. (February 14, 2008 issue)
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