The Tagbilaran city council has unanimously passed a resolution calling on the Supreme Court (SC) to stop the unlawful conversion of municipalities to cities. Sponsored by Councilor Doni Piquero, the resolution also urged the High Court to uphold the rule of law and respect the constitution. In the measure approved March 4, the city councilors noted that after declaring the laws creating the 16 cities unconstitutional in a ruling dated Aug. 24, 2010, the SC reversed the said decision once again and reinstated its Dec. 21, 2009 ruling which affirmed the constitutionality of the said laws. “This is the third time that the (SC) has reversed itself on the issue of whether or not the cityhood laws, which allow the 16 municipalities to be converted into cities, is constitutional,” stressed the Tagbilaran Sangguniang Panlungsod.

 The city councilors said this flip-flopping of the SC is “unprecedented” in its history and “will set a bad   precedent” and will disturb the well-established legal principles on finality and immutability of final judgments. “This action of the (SC) does not inspire confidence in our judicial processes and is another setback in our quest to restore the people's faith in our judicial system,” the resolution pointed out. It said that the decision will only open the floodgates for more conversions of unqualified municipalities to become cities in violation of the express provisions of the Constitution and the Local Government Code of 1991. The councilors warned that the rulings “shall only cause confusion and instability in the development and planning process of Philippine cities and will seriously and adversely affect the delivery of basic public services”.

 “The (SC) decision will unduly reduce the income of Philippine Cities intended for anti-poverty, health, education and other equally significant programs aimed at improving the quality of life of their constituents,” they added  While the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP), of which Tagbilaran is a member, does not oppose the creation of cities per se, the resolution said the LCP is against the conversion of municipalities to cities which do not comply with the requirements under the Constitution and Republic Act No. 7160, as amended by Republic Act No. 9009; The councilors pointed out that the LCP has “endorsed and supported” the conversion of the cities of Biñan and Dasmariñas. They added that the LCP is also ready to endorse the conversion of qualified municipalities including Bacoor, Imus, Cabuyao and other progressive municipalities who may be determined as qualified for conversion. The councilors called on the Filipino people to “safeguard the (SC) as the last bulwark of democracy and the final arbiter of all judicial and constitutional issues. They also rallied the Filipino people to join “the effort and advocacy to stop the illegal conversion of cities, protect the Local Government Code, uphold the rule of law and respect the Constitution”.