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By Francis Earl A. Cueto, Reporter
Today is a day of mourning for the League of
Cities of the Philippines as officials and employees wear black
armbands and flags are placed in half-mast.
The League is protesting a pending bill at the
House of Representatives that relaxes the qualifications for
cityhood.
Mandaluyong City Mayor and LCP President
Benjamin “Benhur” Abalos Jr. said that all 120 cities nationwide
will participate in today’s “Black Monday.”
“The cities will be in a crisis. The cities
will face extinction with this bill,” Abalos said of House Bill
No. 24, authored by Zamboanga Sibugay Second District Rep. Ann
Hofer.
The bill exempts capital towns of provinces from
the requirement that they should earn at least P100-million annual
income to qualify as a city.
Abalos called for a moratorium of the bill,
saying it has to go through a stringent process. He lamented that
the League was never consulted about it.
“What we want to say here is that: cushion the
effect and there should have a moratorium for at least two to five
years. We should look into the aberration and the House Bill should
be reviewed,” Abalos stressed.
The bill stated: “Provided that the capital
towns of provinces without a city shall be exempted from the annual
income requirement of one hundred million pesos as provided for in
par [a] hereof to be qualified for conversion into a city; provided,
further, that capital towns of provinces where there is no existing
city shall be priority for conversion into component cities…”
The LCP expressed fears that their internal
revenue allotment (IRA) will decrease if Congress will pass the
bill. The mayors said that in 2007 alone, 16 towns were already
converted into new cities.
The LCP also questioned before the Supreme Court
the legality of the process, noting that most cities converted last
year failed to comply with the income requirements set by the law.
Abalos warned that basic services, which include
health and education, and the salaries and hiring of workers by the
city government, would be greatly affected by the bill.
Should the bill materialize, the first to be
affected would be manpower as city governments would have to undergo
a massive retrenchment.
During the recent media presentation of the
effects of the bill to local governments, former Environment
Secretary, and now project director for the City Development
Strategies Philippines Bebet Gozun, scored the 2007 Internal Revenue
Allotment.
She said that in 2007, before the conversion of
16 towns, each city got P41.9 billion. Had the conversion not been
done, they stand to receive P47.9 billion.
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