GR L 59180; (January, 1987) (Digest)
G.R. No. L-59180 January 29, 1987
CLEMENTINO TORRALBA and L. RUGAY, petitioners, vs. THE MUNICIPALITY OF SIBAGAT, PROVINCE OF AGUSAN DEL SUR and ITS MUNICIPAL OFFICERS, respondents.
FACTS
Petitioners, residents and taxpayers of Butuan City, challenged the constitutionality of Batas Pambansa Blg. 56, which created the Municipality of Sibagat in Agusan del Sur. They argued that the law violated Section 3, Article XI of the 1973 Constitution, which required that the creation of a municipality must be in accordance with criteria established in a Local Government Code and approved via plebiscite. Petitioners contended that since no Local Government Code had been enacted at the time BP 56 was passed on February 1, 1980, the statute could not have complied with any established criteria, rendering it null and void. The evidence showed that a plebiscite was conducted within the affected areas, resulting in approval, and officials for the new municipality had been appointed and assumed office.
ISSUE
Whether Batas Pambansa Blg. 56 is unconstitutional for having been enacted prior to the existence of the Local Government Code as required by the 1973 Constitution.
RULING
The Supreme Court dismissed the petition and upheld the validity of BP 56. The Court clarified that Section 3, Article XI of the 1973 Constitution does not prohibit the creation of municipalities before the enactment of a Local Government Code. The constitutional provision means that once such a Code is enacted, future creations must conform to its criteria. In the interim before its enactment, the legislative power to create local government units remains plenary, subject only to the requirement of approval through a plebiscite in the affected areas. The Court found that this plebiscite requirement was satisfied in this case, as a plebiscite was conducted and the creation was approved by the people in the unit or units affected. The officials had taken office, establishing a de jure municipality. The Court distinguished this case from Tan v. COMELEC, where the Local Government Code already existed at the time of the challenged statute’s passage, the plebiscite was improperly confined, and other substantive requirements were not met. Here, BP 56 was enacted in the normal legislative course, the plebiscite was correctly held in the “area or areas affected,” and no other constitutional infirmities were raised. The creation of Sibagat was a valid exercise of legislative power by the Interim Batasang Pambansa.