In the advent of the impending merger of Agoo-Aringay into one city, I am posting some questions as to whether or not procedural due process have been SUBSTANTIALLY complied with before the filing of House Bill No. 4644 entitled “An Act Constituting the Municipalities of Agoo and Aringay, Province of La Union, into a component city to be known as the City of Agoo-Aringay”. A thorough discussion on this subject is very essential since this could make an impact on the constitutionality of the law creating the entity of the City of Agoo-Aringay. The social media has been bombarded with all sort of opinions and arguments, some even turning into heated debates and still some leading to more chaotic exchange of opinions than what the issue really presents. As far as my reading of municipalities turning into cities (e.g. City of Cabugao, Laguna) is concerned, the very first step of the conversion seems to be that the local government concerned through its Sangguniang Bayan through a regular or special session would file a Resolution indicating its plan to turn into a city after a careful evaluation of its financial capacity, land area and population by agencies concerned. After deliberation and approval, the Municipal Resolution shall be endorsed to the Congressman of the district where the Municipality is situated. With this Resolution, the Congressman may then file a House Bill at the House of Representatives seeking to convert the munipality/ies into city. If after three (3) readings and approval, said Bill shall then be endorsed to Senate for further approval upon recommendation of the Senate Committee on Local Government. If approved, the same Bill shall be submitted to the President for approval or veto. Then House Bill will be submitted to the people’s concurrence thru a plebiscite. What is elementary here is that the Sangguniang Bayan must make a Resolution for its plan for cityhood. (emphasis supplied). The genesis of the Agoo-Aringay cityhood seems to begin with the congressman and members of the Aringay Sangguniang Bayan discussing a boundary dispute, wherein the Municipality of Agoo is claiming some portion of three (3) barangays of Aringay. Thus, as claimed, cityhood is a win-win solution to the dispute. Far from following the above-stated procedure, the local officials appeared to have verbally agreed to filing of HB 4644 last June 11, 2014 seeking to create component of the City of Agoo-Aringay. Was there a Municipal Resolution approved respectively and separately by Agoo council and Aringay council seeking conversion of the two towns into a city? Were there public consultations and hearings made by the respective council in its jurisdiction? Were all of these made before the filing of the House Bill? Or had our local officials put the cart before the horse, that is, support the filing of HB 4644 without going through the basic procedural due process which the townspeople are entitled to for fear of losing a portion of their territory? The people of both Aringay and Agoo deserve a FULL DISCLOSURE of ALL the PROS and CONS of cityhood PRIOR to the filing of a House Bill. This is inherent right of the people and enshrined in our Constitution. It has been oft-said that due process is one of the cornerstones of a free society. A society bereft of due process is one where tyranny prevails and arbitrariness and caprice defines the norm. The right is enshrined in the first sentence of our Bill of Rights: that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, and property without due process of law. Due process is the very essence of invaluable justice, and therefore, denial of due process is no less than a denial of justice itself. So paramount is the right that it forms the very foundation of the adversarial system that is instituted by our laws for the settlement of disputes and controversies. The right as it is framed is broad and all-encompassing. In the words of Justice Frankfurter, the Due Process Clause embodies a system of rights based on moral principles so deeply imbedded in the traditions and feelings of our people as to be deemed fundamental to a civilized society as conceived by our whole history. However, it cannot be denied that there can be no controlling and precise definition of due process for it is as elusive as a definition of Philippine society and its members that it seeks to protect. To be sure, eminent jurists have attempted abstractions to arrive at a meaningful concept of due process. But then again the matter is now to some, a FIAT ACCOMPLI (according to the Oxford dictionary means “a thing that has already happened or been decided before those affected hear about it, leaving them with no option but to accept”) to which the majority may find repulsive. The local officials have been pushing and moving mountains for House Bill 4644 these days by conducting an almost daily “public hearing” to different barangays and some civilians have joined the bandwagon, trumpeting and singing hosanna on its “advantages” to our town. Again I reiterate, these “public hearings/public consultations” should have been done BEFORE THE FILING OF THE HOUSE BILL. The argument that the people can still vote for or against the cityhood is of no moment here. That fact is, once the Bill is approved and signed by the president, it will be submitted to the people thru a plebiscite wherein the people of Agoo and Aringay will vote JOINTLY. Assuming in arguendo that all the voters from Aringay will vote against it but 90% of the voters from Agoo will vote for it, the House Bill still becomes operative. When the grand idea of merger sprouted the people of Agoo and Aringay should have been consulted with first thru a referendum where they will vote SEPARATELY on the issue, not the sublime idea of cityhood rammed down their throats like bitter pill even if sugar-coated with the gargantuan amount of 500 million of IRA, fast tracked at that. While we are all for progress or prosperity, the same or the idea of it cannot be used to deny the people’s right to know and be justified through unlawful means. I dread one day one brave taxpayer from any of these two towns will question the legitimacy of the cityhood of Agoo-Aringay because it was railroaded and because of the undeniable denial of due process.
Posted on: Mon, 07 Jul 2014 06:22:10 +0000
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