Umali asks Comelec : ‘let Ecijano voters cast vote on Cabanatuan’s HUC bid’

Umali asks Comelec : ‘let Ecijano voters cast vote on Cabanatuan’s HUC bid’ Manny Galvez CABANATUAN CITY – Nueva Ecija Gov. Aurelio Umali has asked the Commission on Elections to consider allowing qualified voters in the whole province to cast their vote on a plebiscite to ratify Presidential Proclamation 418 issued by President Aquino proclaiming this city as a highly urbanized city. In a five-page letter-petition to Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. dated July 9, which was made public yesterday, Umali said that while Section 453 of Republic Act 7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991 provides for the conduct of a plebiscite to ratify the proclamation, the ratification in a plebiscite by the qualified voters therein must be read and understood in conjunction with Section 10, Article 10 of the Constitution which provides that no province, city, municipality or barangay may be created, divided, merged, abolished or its boundary substantially altered, except in accordance with the criteria established in the local government code and subject to approval by a majority of the votes cast in a plebiscite in the political units directly affected. A copy of the petition was also furnished Comelec deputy executive director for operations Bartolome Sinocruz Jr. Umali said that the province is clearly and exactly the political unit or units directly affected by the conversion of Cabanatuan into HUC because its income, population, land area and boundaries will be substantially altered and irreversibly reduced. He noted that since the land area of Cabanatuan will be deducted from that of Nueva Ecija, the province will be at a disadvantage on account of the massive decrease in its share from the internal revenue allotment which is based on land area and population. Umali said the provincial government has not been receiving taxes due it from the city government of Cabanatuan, be it taxes on sand, gravel and other quarry resources, professional taxes, or amusement taxes. Lastly, he said registered voters of Cabanatuan can no longer vote for and be voted to provincial elective positions and the provincial government shall no longer exercise administrative supervision over the city government, including its power to review all executive orders submitted by the city government and the power of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan to review the resolutions and ordinances adopted and approved by the Sangguniang Panglungsod. In batting for the inclusion of all qualified Novo Ecijano voters in the plebiscite to ratify the proclamation, Umali cited existing jurisprudence, foremost of which is a July 11,1986 Supreme Court ruling in the case of Tan vs Comelec regarding the creation of a new province of Negros del Norte wherein 2,768.4 square kilometers from the land area of the parent province will be removed to create a new province whose boundaries will be substantially altered. Umali mentioned the separate concurring opinion of Chief Justice Claudio Teehankee who stated that to limit the plebiscite to only the areas to be partitioned and seceded from the province is “as absurd and illogical as allowing only the secessionists to vote for the secession that they demanded against the wishes of the majority and to nullify the basic principle of majority rule.”