LGUs violating the Constitution, says law expert

An expert on the Constitution has expressed fear over the government’s reluctance to act quickly on the increasing number of ordinances being issued by local government units (LGUs) that violate national laws and the Constitution.

Lawyer Pacifico A. Agabin, chairman of the Constitutional Law Department of the Supreme Court’s Philippine Judicial Academy and concurrent general counsel of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, said, “The national government must act with urgency and without further delay to defend national law and the Constitution.”

Agabin cited the ordinance issued by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of South Cotabato on June 9, 2010, which prohibits open-pit mining in the province, thus hitting the $6-billion Tampakan Copper-Gold Mine Project of the Sagittarius Mines Inc. (SMI), the single biggest foreign investment in the country.

“It should be noted that local governments cannot regulate large-scale mining. Congress already passed a national law authorizing open-pit mining and LGUs cannot pass an ordinance that contravenes the national law,” said Agabin, who is also a former dean of the UP College of Law.

“As the subject of open-pit mining has been preempted by Congress, this precludes the local government from passing any ordinance on the same subject that conflicts with national law or policy, unless this is authorized by Congress itself,” he said.