'Release withheld IRA of new cities'

TABUK CITY, Kalinga, Philippines – The mayor of Tabuk, one of 16 towns whose cityhood was recently upheld by the Supreme Court (SC), has sought the release of their upgraded Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) withheld by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

“The money withheld by the DBM belongs to the people of the 16 new cities and must be given back to them. It does not matter when the DBM returns it but it must be given back,” Mayor Camilo Lammawin Jr. said.

Lammawin said the 16 new cities are entitled to their new IRA from the time their cityhood laws were ratified, following the SC decision dismissing the petition of the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP).

The DBM reverted the IRA of the 16 new cities to the municipal level on the basis of the entry of judgment issued by the SC on May 21, 2009.

The SC, however, reversed its decision last Dec. 14 and declared the cityhood laws constitutional.

In the case of Tabuk City, Lammawin said its withheld IRA amounted to about P188 million, thus seriously affecting local operations and the delivery of services.

The legal counsel of the 16 new cities has already written the DBM to release the withheld IRA and “we are expecting the DBM to comply with the (SC) decision,” Lammawin said.

In a decision penned by Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco, the SC, in a 6-4 vote, ruled that the cityhood laws – Republic Acts 9389, 9390, 9391, 9392, 9393, 9394, 9398, 9404, 9405, 9407, 9408, 9409, 9434, 9435, 9436, and 9491 – did not violate Section 10, Article X or the equal protection clause under Section 1, Article III of the Constitution, contrary to its earlier decisions.

Besides Tabuk, the new cities are Batac in Ilocos Norte; Baybay in Leyte; Bogo, Naga and Carcar in Cebu; Catbalogan in Samar; Tandag in Surigao del Sur; Lamitan in Basilan; Borongan in Eastern Samar; Tayabas in Quezon; Bayugan in Agusan del Sur; Mati in Davao Oriental; Guihulngan in Negros Oriental; Cabadbaran in Agusan del Norte; and El Salvador in Misamis Oriental.

Earlier, LCP president and Mandaluyong City Mayor Benhur Abalos said the SC decision reversing itself on the cityhood of the 16 municipalities, which it had junked twice, “is a bad precedent.”

Because of the SC ruling, Abalos said some of the programmed projects of existing cities for next year would be jeopardized as their IRA share would be significantly reduced.

He said the Standardization Law requiring them to increase by 100 percent the salaries of their employees in four years would also be in peril.

“Where will we get the money for our projects and the increase in the salaries of our employees?” he asked.

Abalos said LCP officers and members would meet after the holidays to determine their next move. “Most likely we would file a motion for reconsideration on the SC decision within 15 days,” he said.