Tabuk ‘demotion’ back to town hit

TABUK CITY, Kalinga — Mayor Camilo Lammawin Jr. said a recent ruling of the Supreme Court converting six new cities, including Tabuk back to towns would have dire repercussions.

The SC had ruled cityhood status of the 16 towns was unconstitutional but Lammawin said there was nothing irregular with the conversion of the towns into cities.

He added the proposed bills vesting cityhood in the 16 towns went through the legal process as these were passed by both houses of Congress and ratified by the residents of the towns in plebiscites held for the purpose.

On the contention of the League of Cities of the Philippines that the 16 cities did not comply with the minimum income requirement of the law (Republic Act 9009) which is P100 million, Lammawin said new cities are exempted from this provision because their cityhood laws were passed before the enactment of RA 9009.

"While we respect the decision of the Supreme Court, we will appeal the decision because we deserve to be a city and, in no way, did our becoming one violate the Constitution. It’s not just the present generation but future generations of the city who have a stake in this issue," Lammawin said.

Tabuk is set to file a motion for reconsideration upon receipt of its official copy of the SC decision.

The mayor downplayed the reduction in LCP’s internal revenue allotments (IRAs) that allegedly came as a result of the conversion of the new cities, commenting that the reduction "is not really that much," while on the other hand the reversion of the 16 cities to towns will stop the development phase they had set as cities.

Lammawin said in the case of Tabuk, infrastructure projects the city undertook in 2008, specifically the construction of the city hall and concreting of roads will not be completed and that the programs which expanded during the year will go back to the old plans.

He said P50 million of the P110 million spent for the construction of the new City Hall, which replaced the half-century-old municipal hall, was appropriated in the 2008 budget, but the balance is intended for appropriation in 2009.

Lammawin cited the case of the Office of Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA) which used to get an allocation of P150,000 but was given P2 million in 2008 for its activities and projects.

He said the 750 indigent students the LGU is supporting through its scholarship program and the annual P300,000.00 equal sharing (support for infrastructure and non-infrastructure) enjoyed by the 42 barangays in 2008 would be adversely affected by the demotion of Tabuk to munipality. --EAJ