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SEPARATE OPINION
MENDOZA, J., dissenting:
The issue in this case is whether the conversion of the City of Santiago in Isabela province from an independent component city to a component city constitutes the creation, division, merger, abolition, or substantial alteration of the boundary of a city within the contemplation of Art. X, 10 of the Constitution so as to require the approval of the people in a plebiscite. The Court, in declaring R.A. No. 8528 unconstitutional for lack of provision for a plebiscite, does not say that the reclassification of Santiago City as an ordinary component city constitutes creation, division, merger, abolition, or substantial alteration of boundary. Nonetheless, the Court today holds that because the reclassification of the city would result in a material change in the political and economic rights of the local government units directly affected as well as the people therein, the approval of the law in a plebiscite is required.
With all due respect I submit that not every change however material and far-reaching in the classification of a local government unit requires popular approval. Only if the reclassification involves changes in income, population, and land area of the local government unit is there a need for such changes to be approved by the people, for then there would be a creation, division, merger, abolition, or substantial alteration of the boundary of a local government unit, as the case may be, within the meaning of Art. X, 10 of the Constitution. Thus, the Local Government Code (R.A. No. 7160), in implementing the constitutional provision in question, states:
SEC. 7. Creation and Conversion. - As a general rule, the creation of a local government unit or its conversion from one level to another level shall be based on verifiable indicators or viability and projected capacity to provide services, to wit:
(a) Income. - It must be sufficient, based on acceptable standards, to provide for all essential government facilities and services and special functions commensurate with the size of its population, as expected of the local government unit concerned;
(b) Population. - It shall be determined as the total number of inhabitants within the territorial jurisdiction of the local government unit concerned; and
(c) Land Area. - It must be contiguous, unless it comprises two (2) or more islands or is separated by a local government unit independent of the others; properly identified by metes and bounds with technical descriptions; and sufficient to provide for such basic services and facilities to meet the requirements of its populace.
Compliance with the foregoing indicators shall be attested to by the Department of Finance (DOF), the National Statistics Office (NSO), and the Lands Management Bureau (LMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
SEC. 8. Division and Merger. - Division and merger of existing local government units shall comply with the same requirements herein prescribed for their creation: Provided, however, That such division shall not reduce the income, population, or land area of the local government unit or units concerned to less than the minimum requirements prescribed in this Code: Provided, further, That the income classification of the original local government unit or units shall not fall below its current income classification prior to such division.
The income classification of local government units shall be updated within six (6) months from the effectivity of this Code to reflect the changes in their financial position resulting from the increased revenues as provided herein.
SEC. 9. Abolition of Local Government Units. - A local government unit may be abolished when its income, population, or land area has been irreversibly reduced to less than the minimum standards prescribed for its creation under Book III of this Code, as certified by the national agencies mentioned in Section 7 hereof to Congress or to the sanggunian concerned, as the case may be.
The law or ordinance abolishing a local government unit shall specify the province, city, municipality, or barangay with which the local government unit sought to be abolished will be incorporated or merged.
The conversion from an independent component city to a component city involves no such changes in income, population, or land area. There may be changes in the voting rights of the residents of the city, the supervision of the citys administration, and the citys share in the local taxes, as petitioners point out, but such changes do not amount to the creation, division, merger, abolition, or substantial alteration of the boundary of a local government unit so as to require a plebiscite for their approval. An independent component city and an ordinary component city are both component cities, as distinguished from highly urbanized cities.1 The only difference between them is that the charters of the independent component cities prohibit their voters from voting for provincial elective officials and such cities are independent of the provinces in which they are located.2 Thus, the Local Government Code provides:
SEC. 450. Requisites for Creation. - (a) A municipality or a cluster of barangays may be converted into a component city if it has an average annual income, as certified by the Department of Finance, of at least Twenty million pesos (P20,000,000.00) for the last two (2) consecutive years based on 1991 constant prices, and if it has either of the following requisites:
(i) a contiguous territory of at least one hundred (100) square kilometers, as certified by the Lands Management Bureau; or
(ii) a population of not less than one hundred fifty thousand (150,000) inhabitants, as certified by the National Statistics Office:
Provided, That, the creation thereof shall not reduce the land area, population, and income of the original unit or units at the time of said creation to less than the minimum requirements prescribed herein.
(b) The territorial jurisdiction of a newly-created city shall be properly identified by metes and bounds. The requirement on land area shall not apply where the city proposed to be created is composed of one (1) or more islands. The territory need not be contiguous if it comprises two (2) or more islands.
(c) The average annual income shall include the income accruing to the general fund, exclusive of special funds, transfers, and nonrecurring income.
SEC. 451. Cities, Classified. - A city may either be component or highly urbanized: Provided, however, That the criteria established in this Code shall not affect the classification and corporate status of existing cities.
Independent component cities are those component cities whose charters prohibit their voters from voting for provincial elective officials. Independent component cities shall be independent of the province.
SEC. 452. Highly Urbanized Cities. - (a) Cities with a minimum population of two hundred thousand (200,000.00) inhabitants, as certified by the National Statistics Office, and with the latest annual income of at least Fifty Million Pesos (P50,000,000.00) based on 1991 constant prices, as certified by the city treasurer, shall be classified as highly urbanized cities.
(b) Cities which do not meet the above requirements shall be considered component cities of the province in which they are geographically located. If a component city is located within the boundaries of two (2) or more provinces, such city shall be considered a component of the province of which it used to be a municipality.
(c) Qualified voters of highly urbanized cities shall remain excluded from voting for elective provincial officials.
Unless otherwise provided in the Constitution or this Code, qualified voters of independent component cities shall be governed by their respective charters, as amended, on the participation of voters in provincial elections.
Qualified voters of cities who acquired the right to vote for elective provincial officials prior to the classification of said cities as highly urbanized after the ratification of the Constitution and before the effectivity of this Code, shall continue to exercise such right.
The Court says that the changes resulting from the reclassification of Santiago City as an ordinary component city cannot be considered insubstantial. For one, it is said, its independence will be diminished because the city mayor will be placed under the administrative supervision of the provincial governor. For another, the resolutions and ordinances of the city council will have to be approved by the provincial board of Isabela.
The fact is that whether the City of Santiago is an independent component city or an ordinary component city, it is subject to administrative supervision, with the only difference that, as an independent component city, it is under the direct supervision of the President of the Philippines, whereas, as an ordinary component city, it will be subject to the supervision of the President through the province.3 That is hardly a distinction. For the fact is that under the Constitution, the President of the Philippines exercises general supervision over all local governments.4
Nor does it matter that ordinances passed by the city councils of component cities are subject to review (not approval as the Court says) by the provincial boards for the purpose of determining whether the ordinances are within the powers of the city councils to enact.5 For that matter, ordinances passed by the city councils of independent component cities are likewise subject to review, although by the Office of the President.6 The reason for this is to be found in Art. X, 4 of the Constitution which provides:
The President of the Philippines shall exercise general supervision over local governments. Provinces with respect to component cities and municipalities, and cities and municipalities with respect to component barangays shall ensure that the acts of their component units are within the scope of their prescribed powers and functions.
In any case, these are not important differences which determine whether the law effecting them should be approved in a plebiscite. The defining characteristics of a local government unit are its income, population, and local area, as 450 and 452 of the LGC provide. These are referred to in 7 of the LGC and its Implementing Rules as the verifiable indicators of viability and projected capacity to provide services. Tested by these standards, there is no change in the City of Santiago requiring the approval of the people in a plebiscite.
The majority states: It is markworthy that when R.A. No. 7720 upgraded the status of Santiago City from a municipality to an independent component city, it required the approval of its people thru a plebiscite called for the purpose. There is neither rhyme nor reason why this plebiscite should not be called to determine the will of the people of Santiago City when R.A. No. 8528 downgrades the status of their city. The conversion of the then Municipality of Santiago in Isabela Province by R.A. No. 7720 was an act of creation. It was based on the municipalitys satisfying the requisites for the creation of a city as provided in the LGC, to wit:
SEC. 450. Requisites for Creation. - (a) A municipality or a cluster of barangays may be converted into a component city if it has an average annual income, as certified by the Department of Finance, of a least Twenty million pesos (P20,000,000.00) for the last two (2) consecutive years based on 1991 constant prices, and if it has either of the following requisites:
(i) a contiguous territory of at least one hundred (100) square kilometers, as certified by the Lands Management Bureau; or
(ii) a population of not less than one hundred fifty thousand (150,000) inhabitants, as certified by the National Statistics Office;
Provided, That, the creation thereof shall not reduce the land area, population, and income of the original unit or units at the time of said creation to less than the minimum requirements prescribed herein.
(b) The territorial jurisdiction of a newly-created city shall be properly identified by metes and bounds. The requirement on land area shall not apply where the city proposed to be created is composed of one (1) or more islands. The territory need not be contiguous if it comprises two (2) or more islands.
(c) The average annual income shall include the income accruing to the general fund, exclusive of special funds, transfers, and nonrecurring income.
As thus indicated these requisites are based on the verifiable indicators of income, population, and land area and, therefore, the conversion of what was once a municipality into a city needed approval in a plebiscite. But the conversion of Santiago City from an independent component city into a component city involves no more than a change in the right of the people (i.e., the registered voters of the city) to vote for provincial elective officials.
If an analogy is needed, it is to the reversion of a component city whether independent or ordinary to the status of a municipality. For then the city is actually abolished and abolition, as stated in the Art. X, 10 of the Constitution, must be approved by the majority of the votes cast in a plebiscite. Stated otherwise, when a municipality is converted into a city, a city is created, and when the city is reverted into a municipality, the city is abolished. Both acts of creation and abolition require the approval of the people in a plebiscite called for the purpose. But when an independent component city is converted into a component city, it is not created into another form, it is not divided, it is not merged with another unit of local government, it is not abolished, much less is its boundary substantially altered.
Indeed, this is not the first time that an independent component city is converted into a component city without a plebiscite. The City of Oroquieta, created as an independent component city in 1969 by R.A. No. 5518, was converted into a component city in 1989 by R.A. No. 6726, while the City of San Carlos, created as an independent component city in 1965 by R.A. No. 4487, was converted into a component city by R.A. No. 6843 in 1990. In both cases, the conversion was made without submitting the matter to a plebiscite.
There is, therefore, no reason for requiring that the reclassification of Santiago City as a component city must be approved by the majority of the votes cast in a plebiscite and for holding that, because R.A. No. 8528 contains no provision for such plebiscite, it is unconstitutional.
It is easy to sympathize with calls for plebiscites as an exercise of direct democracy by the people. But, although the Constitution declares that Sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from them, it also provides that we are a republican State.7 It is thus a representative form of government that we have. With few exceptions, we have vested the legislative power in the Congress of the Philippines.8 This means that when an act of the peoples representatives assembled in Congress is duly passed and approved by the President in the manner prescribed in the Constitution, the act becomes a law9 without the need of approval or ratification by the people in order to be effective.10
This is the theory of representative government. Such a government is no less democratic because it is indirect. In some ways it is better than direct government given the complexity of modern society, let alone the volatility of voters and their susceptability to manipulation. In this age of mass communication there is less reason to distrust the judgment of the peoples representatives in Congress on matters such as this and, therefore, no reason to require the people to manifest their sovereign will, except where this is expressly required by the Constitution.
For the foregoing reasons, I vote to dismiss the petition in this case.
Endnotes:
1 See LOCAL GOVERNMENT CODE, 451.
2 CONST., ART. X, 12; LGC, 451.
3 LGC, 25.
4 ART. X, 4.
5 LGC, 468(a)(1)(i).
6 Id., 25(a).
7 ART. II, 1.
8 ART. VI, 1.
9 Id., 26-27.
10 In the following cases, the Constitution requires a plebiscite or a referendum to approve or ratify an act of Congress or of the President: (1) the creation, division, merger, abolition, or substantial alteration of the boundary of a local government unit [Art. X, 10]; (2) the creation of a special metropolitan political subdivision [Id., 11]; (3) the creation of an autonomous region [Id., 18]; (4) the adoption of a new name, national anthem, or national seal for the country [Art. XVI, 2]; (5) referral to the people of the question whether to call a constitutional convention [Art. XVII, 3]; (6) ratification of constitutional amendments [Art. XVII, 4]; and (7) the adoption of a treaty allowing foreign military bases, troops, or facilities in the Philippines if Congress decides to refer the matter to the people [Art. XVIII, 25].
Direct lawmaking by the people is provided through initiative and referendum [Art. VI, 32; R.A. No. 6735] and ratification of constitutional amendments through a plebiscite [Art. XVII, 4].
