Archive for July 21st, 2008
Jobless officials, confusing poll preparations follow province’s dissolution
Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7d/ShariffKab.jpg/300px-ShariffKab.jpg
By Jesus F. Llanto
Researcher, Newsbreak
Thursday, 17 July 2008–Local officials in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) warned Thursday that the Supreme Court (SC) decision voiding the creation of Shariff Kabunsuan province by the regional legislature would cause leadership problem and unemployment in the province.
According to local officials interviewed by abs-cbnNews.com/Newsbreak, the tribunal’s decision will cause some of the elected officials and government employees in Shariff Kabunsuan to lose their jobs since the province will be reverted to Maguindanao, its mother province.
The High Tribunal, voting 8-6, voided a law enacted by the ARMM’s lawmaking body –the Regional Legislative Assembly (RLA)– in August 2006 that established Shariff Kabunsuan. It nullified Muslim Mindanao Autonomy Act 201, which created the province by carving out eight municipalities from the first legislative district of Maguindanao and was ratified in a plebiscite in October 2006.
The SC argued that since the creation of provinces and cities require the creation of legislative districts, and only Congress—not regional and local bodies—can create or reapportion legislative districts—the creation of Shariff Kabunsuan province by the RLA was against the Constitution.
The resolution reduces the number of provinces in ARMM to five. ARMM is composed of Maguindanao, Tawi-Tawi, Sulu, Lanao del Sur, Basilan (excluding Isabela City) and the city of Marawi .
Supreme Court voids creation of Shariff Kabunsuan
By Jesus F. Llanto
Researcher, Newsbreak
Wednesday, July16,, 2008–The Supreme Court has declared the creation of the province of Shariff Kabunsuan in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao void and ruled that the power of ARMM’s legislature to create provinces and cities is unconstitutional.
http://uberpedia.org/wiki/Shariff_Kabunsuan
Wednesday, 16 July 2008
The SC, in an 8-6 vote, declared void Muslim Mindanao Autonomy Act 201, which created the province of Shariff Kabunsuan, which was carved out of Maguindanao province.
“Only Congress can create provinces and cities because the creation of provinces and cities necessarily includes the creation of legislative districts,” the 33-page decision penned by Justice Antonio Carpio reads.
The SC ruling said that creation of province or a city “inherently involves the power to create a legislative district.” Creating a province or a city without creating a legislative district, the decision said, is unconstitutional because the Constitution mandates that a province or a city with at least 250,000 inhabitants is entitled to at least one representative.
The ruling said that only Congress can create or reapportion a legislative district. “Congress exercises these powers through a law that the Congress itself enacts and not through a law that a regional or local legislative bodies enact.”
