Umali v. COMELEC
Script error: No such module "Draft topics". Script error: No such module "AfC topic".
| Umali v. COMELEC | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Court | Supreme Court of the Philippines |
| Full case name | Aurelio M. Umali vs. Commission on Elections, Julius Cesar V. Vergara, and the City Government of Cabanatuan |
| Citation(s) | (G.R. No. 203974. April 22, 2014) |
Umali v. COMELEC is a landmark decision of the Philippine Supreme Court. In plebiscites for ratification of conversion of a component city into a highly-urbanized city, all the eligible voters in the mother province are to be included.
Background and History[edit]
Cities in the Philippines are classified into three: highly-urbanized cities (HUCs), independent component cities (ICCs) and component cities (CCs). Component cities are under the territorial jurisdiction and administrative supervision of a province, while HUCs and ICCs are not. Voters in HUCs and ICCs are excluded from voting for elective provincial officials, although the charters of ICCs may allow voters to participate in provincial elections.[1]
Under Philippine law, component cities may be converted to ICCs or HUCs when approved by a majority of the votes cast in a plebiscite called for the purpose in the "political unit or units directly affected."[2] Prior to Umali v. COMELEC, the "political unit or units directly affected" was interpreted to mean only the voters within the component city to be converted. Ever since the Local Government Code went into effect in 1992, three component cities have successfully converted into HUCs: Puerto Princesa and Lapu-Lapu City in 2007, Tacloban in 2008.
The government of Cabanatuan City, having met the requirements for conversion into an HUC under the Local Government Code, requested for declaration of its conversion from the Office of the President. The President issued the said proclamation, subject to ratification by a plebiscite.
The Governor of Nueva Ecija, the province where Cabanatuan City is located, filed a petition, seeking for the inclusion of the entire province in the plebiscite, arguing that the province is part of the "political unit or units directly affected," since the removal of Cabanatuan City from its territorial jurisdiction will be a great loss to the province. COMELEC denied the petition, based on the three precedents of Puerto Princesa, Lapu-Lapu, and Tacloban, where only the city voters participated in the plebiscite.
Decision[edit]
In its decision, the Supreme Court agreed with the petitioner, the Governor of Nueva Ecija. The conversion of a component city into an HUC makes it independent of the province where it is geographically located. The Court noted that Nueva Ecija will lose territory and tax revenues when Cabanatuan City becomes independent of the province. The loss of territory and population would, in turn, lower the budget allocation for the provincial government from the national government. Thus, the province of Nueva Ecija is a "political unit directly affected" by the conversion of Cabanatuan City from a component city into an HUC. The Court ordered the inclusion of the voters of the entire province of Nueva Ecija in the plebiscite for the conversion of Cabanatuan City to an HUC.
Aftermath[edit]
The expenses for the plebiscite for the conversion of a component city to an HUC is to be borne by the component city seeking the conversion, in this case Cabanatuan City. Since the decision of the court greatly expanded the number of eligible voters for the plebiscite, the city no longer had enough funds to cover it. Thus, the plebiscite had been indefinitely postponed, until the city government certifies that it has enough funds (₱101 million) available.[3]
The decision of the court greatly affected the aspirations of other component cities seeking conversion into HUCs. The first hurdle is the expenses for conducting a province-wide plebiscite, with a voter population several times that of the component city's. Another problem is on how to convince the voters in the province to allow the conversion to HUC, which would effectively be a secession; the conversion to HUC would not be in the best interest of the province affected. However, there is no limit as to the number of times when a component city could seek conversion to HUC, provided it could afford the cost of the plebiscite.
The City of San Jose del Monte, in Bulacan, sought conversion to an HUC. It was proclaimed an HUC in 2020, subject to ratification, but the voters in Bulacan did not approve of the conversion in the 2023 plebiscite.[4] Bulacan, currently ranked as the third most populous province in the Philippines (behind Cebu and Cavite), would have dropped to the seventh rank if it lost San Jose del Monte City (behind Laguna, Rizal, Negros Occidental and Pangasinan).
References[edit]
- ↑ Local Government Code of the Philippines, Section 452
- ↑ Local Government Code of the Philippines, Section 10
- ↑ Elmo Roque (February 10, 2015). "'Highly-urbanized' Cabanatuan still unratified". punto.com.ph. Punto! Central Luzon. Archived from the original on March 17, 2015. Retrieved March 17, 2015. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Rita, Joviland (November 1, 2023). "Voters turn down conversion of San Jose del Monte, Bulacan to highly urbanized city". GMA News Online.
This article "Umali v. COMELEC" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Umali v. COMELEC. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
