Tabuk, Kalinga

Tabuk
Component City
Cathedral of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines, Tabuk City
Official seal of Tabuk Seal
{{#property:P242}} Location in the province of Kalinga
Tabuk Location within the Philippines
Coordinates:
Country	[[{{#property:P17}}]]
Region	Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR)
Province	Kalinga
District	Lone District
Established	June 16, 1950
Cityhood	June 23, 2007
Barangays	42
Government
• Mayor	Ferdinand B. Tubban
Area
• Total	700.25 km2 (270.37 sq mi)
Population (2010)
• Total	103,912
• Density	150/km2 (380/sq mi)
Time zone	PHT (UTC+8)
ZIP code	{{#property:P281}}
Dialing code	{{#property:P473}}
Income class	5th class
Website	{{#property:P856}}

Tabuk is a city and the capital of the province of Kalinga in the Philippines. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 103,912 people.

It borders with the town of Pinukpuk in the north and the town of Rizal in the north-east. On its westernmost section it shares border with the towns of Pasil and Lubuagan. On the south-west it borders with the town of Tanudan. Tabuk City is a border city of Kalinga with the provinces of Isabela and Mountain Province. In the east, it is bordered by the town of Quezon, Isabela, which is about 20 kilometers from the city center and the town of Paracelis, Mountain Province, to the south.

History

The former municipal district of Tabuk was transformed into a regular municipality by Republic Act No. 533, approved June 16, 1950.

Cityhood

During the 11th Congress (1998–2001), Congress enacted into law 33 bills converting 33 municipalities into cities. However, Congress did not act on a further 24 bills converting 24 other municipalities into cities.

During the 12th Congress (2001–2004), Congress enacted into law Republic Act No. 9009 (RA 9009), which took effect on 30 June 2001. RA 9009 amended Section 450 of the Local Government Code by increasing the annual income requirement for conversion of a municipality into a city from ₱20 million to ₱100 million. The rationale for the amendment was to restrain, in the words of Senator Aquilino Pimentel, "the mad rush" of municipalities to convert into cities solely to secure a larger share in the Internal Revenue Allotment despite the fact that they are incapable of fiscal independence.

After RA 9009 went into effect, the House of Representatives of the 12th Congress adopted Joint Resolution No. 29, which sought to exempt from the ₱100 million income requirement in RA 9009 the 24 municipalities whose cityhood bills were not approved in the 11th Congress. However, the 12th Congress ended without the Senate having approved Joint Resolution No. 29.

During the 13th Congress (2004–2007), the House of Representatives re-adopted former Joint Resolution No. 29 as Joint Resolution No. 1 and forwarded it to the Senate for approval. However, the Senate again failed to approve the Joint Resolution. Following the suggestion of Senator Aquilino Pimentel (Senate President), 16 municipalities filed, through their respective sponsors, individual cityhood bills. The 16 cityhood bills each contained a common provision exempting it from the ₱100 million income requirement of RA 9009 –

"Exemption from Republic Act No. 9009. — The City of x x x shall be exempted from the income requirement prescribed under Republic Act No. 9009."

On 22 December 2006, the House of Representatives approved the cityhood bills. The Senate also approved the cityhood bills in February 2007, except that of Naga, Cebu which was passed on 7 June 2007. These cityhood bills lapsed into law on various dates from March to July 2007 after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo failed to sign them.

Tabuk became the Cordillera’s second city after Baguio on June 23, 2007, when 17,060 voters ratified Republic Act No. 9404.The point of law at issue in 2007 was whether there had been a breach of Section 10, Article X of the 1987 Constitution, which provides –

No province, city, municipality, or barangay shall 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.

– and in each case the established criteria were far from met.

In November 2008, Tabuk and 15 other cities lost their cityhood after the Supreme Court of the Philippines granted a petition filed by the League of Cities of the Philippines, and declared unconstitutional the cityhood law (RA 9404) which had allowed the town to acquire its city status. The Supreme Court ruled that they did not pass the requirements for cityhood.

On 10 December 2008, the 16 cities affected acting together filed a motion for reconsideration with the Supreme Court. More than a year later, on 22 December 2009, acting on said appeal, the Court reversed its earlier ruling as it ruled that "at the end of the day, the passage of the amendatory law" (regarding the criteria for cityhood as set by Congress) "is no different from the enactment of a law, i.e., the cityhood laws specifically exempting a particular political subdivision from the criteria earlier mentioned. Congress, in enacting the exempting law/s, effectively decreased the already codified indicators." Accordingly cityhood status was restored.

But on 27 August 2010, the 16 cities lost their city status again, after the Supreme Court voted 7-6, with two justices not taking part, to reinstate the 2008 decision declaring as "unconstitutional" the Republic Acts that converted the 16 municipalities into cities. A previous law required towns aspiring to become cities to earn at least ₱100 million annually, which none of the 16 did.

On 15 February 2011, the Supreme Court made another volte-face and upheld for the third time the cityhood of 16 towns in the Philippines.

Finally, on 12 April 2011, the Supreme Court, in an en banc ruling delivered in Baguio City, affirmed the finality of the constitutionality of the 16 cityhood laws by resolving that:

We should not ever lose sight of the fact that the 16 cities covered by the Cityhood Laws not only had conversion bills pending during the 11th Congress, but have also complied with the requirements of the LGC prescribed prior to its amendment by R.A. No. 9009. Congress undeniably gave these cities all the considerations that justice and fair play demanded. Hence, this Court should do no less by stamping its imprimatur to the clear and unmistakable legislative intent and by duly recognizing the certain collective wisdom of Congress. WHEREFORE, the Ad Cautelam Motion for Reconsideration (of the Decision dated 15 February 2011) is denied with finality.

On 28 June 2011 the Supreme Court directed the Clerk of Court to issue the entry of judgment on the cityhood case of 16 municipalities. This entry of judgment ended the cityhood battle of the 16 cities.

Barangays

Tabuk is politically subdivided into 42 barangays.

3

Demographics

Population census of Tabuk
Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1990	57,200	—
1995	63,507	+1.98%
2000	78,633	+4.69%
2007	87,912	+1.55%
2010	103,912	+6.27%
Source: National Statistics Office

External links

• Tabuk LGU
• Tabuk.ph
• Philippine Standard Geographic Code
• Philippine Census Information
• Local Governance Performance Management System