Tabuk is a city three times over

LETTERS FROM THE AGNO
March L. Fianza

TABUK CITY, Kalinga -- I have not heard from my friend ex-mayor Camilo Lammawin of Tabuk, but I am very sure he is the happiest among the happy because of the good news about the Supreme Court finally declaring his municipality a city.

Who can beat that? Tabuk is a city three times over. First, it became a city after more than 17,000 of its constituents on June 23, 2007 ratified RA 9404, the law which “converted the Municipality of Tabuk into a component city of Kalinga Province.”

But in November 2008, all the justices of the Supreme Court of the Philippines declared Republic Act 9404 unconstitutional, reverting Tabuk to its former status as a municipality.

Tabuk did not let this pass as it immediately filed a motion for reconsideration with the Supreme Court.

Fortunately, on December 22, 2009, the SC acted on the motion for reconsideration and reversed its ruling that returned the status of Tabuk to municipality. So for the second time, Tabuk became a city.

But, in August 2010, the SC restored its 2008 decision making Tabuk a municipality again, voting 7-6, with two justices abstaining in the voting, and again declaring as unconstitutional RA 9404, the law that converted Tabuk to a city.

Now for the third time on February 15, 2011, Tabuk was again declared as a city as the SC upheld for the third time its cityhood.

On April 12, 2011, the SC on session here reaffirmed its Feb. 15 resolution upholding the constitutionality of the cityhood law for Tabuk. In fact, 15 other municipalities were granted cityhood status just like Tabuk.

With the SC decision, at least 122 city mayors expressed disappointment saying that the 16 municipalities that were granted cityhood “failed to meet the requirements.”

The 122 cities feared that the 16 new cities could reduce their Internal Revenue Allotment share from the national government.

Prior to cityhood, a municipality must at least have an annual income of P100 million, but apparently, this was not considered in the SC decision.

And so, as last remedy or at least to get back at the SC justices who voted in favor of the 16 new cities, 122 members of the League of Cities of the Philippines are thinking of filing an impeachment complaint with Congress against them.

I agree, declaring Tabuk as a city is long-overdue. No need to mention names but truth is that I have seen cities in the country that are not fit to be declared as cities. Their roads are so narrow as compared to Tabuk that has maintained its road width.

Some LGUs who brag about their cityhood status do not even have their own public markets, abattoirs or slaughterhouses. No movie houses, too and no tertiary level schools. Yet their cityhood laws were ratified.

And sooner or later, any municipality would earn enough to raise an income that would be greater than what is required in becoming a city. I think, the 122 LCP members have no right to complain and do not have any authority to stop others from dreaming and becoming what they want to be.
***
After writing last week about some experiences on the way to Lang-ay and back, those who joined me on that trip charged me guilty of being unfair for not mentioning everything. To satisfy them I now write a “post Lang-ay diary.”

I begin by identifying the guys who rode with me. They were Ramon “Mondacs” Dacawi, Joseph “Panic” Zambrano, Romy “bagman 2b” Gonzales, Edong “Retired” Carta, Jonathan “Baac” Llanes, Reggie “Panic 2” Kawis and Swanny “Polytechnic” Dicang.

On the way home to Baguio-Benguet, we stopped for dinner at the Mt. Data Hotel. I noticed that the hotel has always been cold since the “Sipat” on September 13, 1986 between the revolutionary government of Cory and the so-called liberation army that operated in some provinces of the Cordillera.

Although the food, courtesy of PIA Dir. Helen R. Tibaldo, was good, the park around the hotel was cold that I thought it was just the best place for honeymooners.

A few days after arrival in Baguio, Joseph texted me to go get my etag (dried pork meat) that was MP Gov. Mayaen’s pahabol gift to us. Salamat Gov.

The following day, I went to get the etag and jokingly texted Joseph “apay ngay bimassit? Dwa kilo met ti inpaw-it da?

On the same day, I opened my email and found a letter waiting for me. It was actually a comment on my article about the orange colored core shelter houses for relocatees from calamities that hit Mt. Province in 2009. The letter was from Gabriel Moguet of Sabangan.

According to him, the core houses were “funded by the DSWD Central Office and the Local government Unit of Sabangan…”

On the orange color of the core houses, Gabriel said, it is the official color of the LGU of Sabangan, thus the relocation houses were painted as such. What I thought was that “the paint color orange was the only contribution DPWH could provide for the relocation houses.”

Gabriel also clarified that “the core shelter houses was constructed because of the unstable land at Barangays Bao-angan and Bun-ayan” in Sabangan.

Speaking of relocation houses, Benguet had the most casualties when typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng visited. Sito Little Kibungan in Brgy. Puguis, La Trinidad, was erased from the map as continuous rains caused a big landslide there.

Benguet State U in the early part of 2010 segregated a portion of its “ancestral” lands for the construction of relocation houses. The issue was even used and abused for the election campaign of an incumbent mayor.

Where are the relocation core houses that were promised? Now, it is clear. They were just plain campaign promises. – marchfianza777@yahoo.com