MANILA, Philippines - Sixteen new cities will revert back to being municipalities after the Supreme Court declared as unconstitutional the laws that elevated them to cities in 2007.Among those affected are the cities of Carcar, Naga and Bogo, which became component cities of Cebu last year. Voting 7 to 5 with 2 abstentions, the High Court said the laws that elevated 16 municipalities to cityhood status violated the Local Government Code. In a decision penned by Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, the Supreme Court said the assailed cityhood laws could not claim they were exempted from Republic Act 9009. RA 9009, which took effect in June 2001 or six years before the cityhood laws were passed, amended Section 450 of the Local Government Code by increasing the annual income requirement for conversion of a municipality into a city from P20 million to P100 million. “The Constitution is clear. The creation of local government units must follow the criteria established,” the high tribunal said. The Supreme Court upheld the petition of the League of Cities of the Philippines, which argued that the "wholesale conversion" of municipalities into cities would reduce the share of existing cities in the Internal Revenue Allotment, since more cities would share the same amount of internal revenue set aside for all cities. The 16 assailed cityhoods are Baybay in Leyte province; Bogo in Cebu; Catbalogan in Samar; Tandag in Surigao Del Sur; Borongan in Eastern Samar; Tayabas in Quezon; Lamitan in Basilan; Tabuk in Kalinga; Bayugan in Agusan Del Sur; Batac in Ilocos Norte; Mati in Davao Oriental; Guihulngan in Negros Oriental; Cabadbaran in Agusan Del Norte; Carcar in Cebu; El Salvador in Misamis Oriental; and Naga in Cebu province.
Those who voted in favor of the decision were Chief Justice Reynato Puno and Associate Justices Leonardo Quisumbing, Alicia Austria-Martinez, Conchita Carpio Morales, Presbiterio Velasco Jr. and Arturo Biron. Those who dissented were Associate Justices Ruben Reyes, who wrote a dissenting opinion, Renato Corona, Adolfo Azcuna, Minita Chico-Nazario and Teresita Leonardo-De Castro. Associate Justice Dante Tinga, a former Taguig congressman, and Associate Justice Antonio Nachura, a former Western Samar congressman, took no part in the decision. Associate Justice Consuelo Ynares-Santiago is on leave. Last Monday, the mayors and their representatives of the 16 new cities met at the conference hall of Congress after hearing talks about an SC resolution that would revert their status to towns. | 
