MisOr officials lament SC decision to revert El Salvador, Misamis Oriental from city to municipality

November 23, 2008

By Lizanilla J. Amarga

Local officials yesterday lamented the decision of the Supreme Court to revert El Salvador, Misamis Oriental from a component city back to being a mere municipality saying it will severely hit the delivery of public services to its residents.

Nevertheless, El Salvador mayor Emelita Almirante through her son Atty. Anthony Carlo Almirante said a motion for reconsideration is now being prepared in the hopes of changing the minds of the Supreme Court justices.

“There is no other option but a motion for reconsideration,” he told Gold Star Daily adding that the city mayor rushed to meet with the other 16 other chief executives in Manila who are also affected by this decision of the Supreme Court.

Misamis Oriental Gov. Oscar Moreno, Vice-Governor Norris Babiera and Second District Provincial Board member Oliver Actub said the Supreme Court’s decision may be hard but it must be given due respect.

However, Moreno explained that there is still hope that the Supreme Court justices would reverse its decision considering that the decision was not arrived at unanimously.

He added that until the motion for reconsideration on the decision of the Supreme Court is decided upon, El Salvador continues to remain as a component city of the province.

El Salvador vice-mayor Teodulfo Bombeo explained that, should the decision to revert their town back to a mere municipality be implemented, it would be very costly not just to the political subdivision itself but to its people.

“Dakong kahugno kini kanamo karon,” he said over dxIF Bombo Radyo yesterday.

Bombeo said their internal revenue allotment (IRA) would be reverted from the current P146 million as a component city to a mere P38 million.

He said this would affect their P160 million Proposed Annual Budget Ordinance for 2009 as they are heavily dependent on their IRA.

He added that their budget for public services, more roads, light and drainage facilities and even infrastructures for their town will have to be adjusted even scrapped.

Bombeo said, although there will be a slight decrease on the honorarium of their city councilors from P22, 000 a month to just over P21, 000, still, this would mean that they will have to go back to having a municipal council with eight members instead of having the current 10 member city council.

He said they would even have to close down some of the new offices allowed to be created by their charter as a component city.

“We have to adjust practically everything from our budget to the paper works and this will be very costly,” he said in the dialect.

The bill converting El Salvador from town to city was approved by the House of Representatives on December 20, 2006 and by the Senate on February 19, 2007. It lapsed into law on April 12, 2007 and became Republic Act 9435.

But the League of Cities in the Philippines filed a petition at the Supreme Court to annul the charter converting it into a city along with 15 other new cities arguing that the “wholesale conversion” would reduce the share of existing cities in the IRA since the more cities would share the same amount of internal revenue set aside for all cities.

Voting 7-5 with 2 abstentions, the Supreme Court ruled that the laws that elevated these 16 municipalities into cityhood is unconstitutional and violated the Local Government Code.