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* EN BANC.
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obviously lose their efficacy due to the sheer defiance by the parties
aggrieved.·Is Andong similarly entitled to recognition as a de facto
municipal corporation? It is not. There are eminent differences
between Andong and municipalities such as San Andres, Alicia and
Sinacaban. Most prominent is the fact that the executive order
creating Andong was expressly annulled by order of this Court in
1965. If we were to affirm AndongÊs de facto status by reason of its
alleged continued existence despite its nullification, we would in
effect be condoning defiance of a valid order of this Court. Court
decisions cannot obviously lose their efficacy due to the sheer
defiance by the parties aggrieved.
Same; Same; Same; Same; Same; Same; Section 442(d) of the
Local Government Code that it does not serve to affirm or
reconstitute the judicially dissolved municipalities which had been
previously created by presidential issuances or executive orders·the
provision affirms the legal personalities only of those municipalities
which may have been created using the same infirm legal basis, yet
were fortunate enough not to have been judicially annulled.·We
thus assert the proper purview to Section 442(d) of the Local
Government Code·that it does not serve to affirm or reconstitute
the judicially dissolved municipalities such as Andong, which had
been previously created by presidential issuances or executive
orders. The provision affirms the legal personalities only of those
municipalities such as San Narciso, Alicia, and Sinacaban, which
may have been created using the same infirm legal basis, yet were
fortunate enough not to have been judicially annulled. On the other
hand, the municipalities judicially dissolved in cases such as Pelaez,
San Joaquin, and Malabang, remain inexistent, unless recreated
through specific legislative enactments, as done with the eighteen
(18) municipalities certified
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TINGA, J.:
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11 Rollo, p. 5.
12 Ibid.
13 Id., at p. 13.
14 Id., at p. 14.
15 Id., at p. 15.
16 Id., at p. 16.
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17 Id., at p. 17.
18 Ibid.
19 Id., at p. 44. The Certification was signed by OIC Assistant
Director Mariano A. Gabito.
20 Rollo, p. 11.
21 Id., at p. 22.
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28 Ibid.
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50 Id., at p. 15.
51 „Created in 1959 by virtue of Executive Order No. 353, the
Municipality of San Andres had been in existence for more than six years
when, on 24 December 1965, Pelaez v. Auditor General was promulgated.
The ruling could have sounded the call for a similar declaration of the
unconstitutionality of Executive Order No. 353 but it was not to be the
case. On the contrary, certain governmental acts all pointed to the StateÊs
recognition of the continued existence of the Municipality of San Andres.
Thus, after more than five years as a municipal district, Executive Order
No. 174 classified the Municipality of San Andres as a fifth class
municipality after having surpassed the income requirement laid out in
Republic Act No. 1515. Section 31 of Batas Pambansa Blg. 129, otherwise
known as the Judiciary Reorganization Act of 1980, constituted as
municipal circuits, in the establishment of Municipal Circuit Trial Courts
in the country, certain municipalities that comprised the municipal
circuits organ-
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ized under Administrative Order No. 33, dated 13 June 1978, issued by this
Court pursuant to Presidential Decree No. 537. Under this administrative
order, the Municipality of San Andres had been covered by the 10th Municipal
Circuit Court of San Francisco-San Andres for the province of Quezon.
At the present time, all doubts on the de jure standing of the municipality
must be dispelled. Under the Ordinance (adopted on 15 October 1986)
apportioning the seats of the House of Representatives, appended to the 1987
Constitution, the Municipality of San Andres has been considered to be one of
the twelve (12) municipalities composing the Third District of the province of
Quezon.‰ Id., at p. 20.
52 Ibid.
53 Rollo, p. 32.
54 Infra.
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have been invalid under existing laws, as if existing laws have been
complied with,‰ are validly accepted in this jurisdiction, subject to
the usual qualification against impairment of vested rights.
(Emphasis supplied)55
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The principal basis for the view that Sinacaban was not validly
created as a municipal corporation is the ruling in Pelaez v. Auditor
General that the creation of municipal corporations is essentially a
legislative matter and therefore the President was without power to
create by executive order the Municipality of Sinacaban. The ruling
in this case has been reiterated in a number of cases later decided.
However, we have since held that where a municipality created as
such by executive order is later impliedly recognized and its acts are
accorded legal validity, its creation can no longer be questioned. In
Municipality of San Narciso, Quezon v. Mendez, Sr., this Court
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order creating such municipality; and (3) the fact that the
municipality was later classified as a fifth class municipality,
organized as part of a municipal circuit court and considered part of
a legislative district in the Constitution apportioning the seats in
the House of Representatives. Above all, it was held that whatever
doubt there might be as to the de jure character of the municipality
must be deemed to have been put to rest by the Local Government
Code of 1991 (R.A. No. 7160), §442(d) of which provides that
„municipal districts organized pursuant to presidential issuances or
executive orders and which have their respective sets of elective
officials holding office at the time of the effectivity of this Code shall
henceforth be considered as regular municipalities.‰
Here, the same factors are present so as to confer on Sinacaban
the status of at least a de facto municipal corporation in the sense
that its legal existence has been recognized and acquiesced publicly
and officially. Sinacaban had been in existence for sixteen years
when Pelaez v. Auditor General was decided on December 24, 1965.
Yet the validity of E.O. No. 258 creating it had never been
questioned. Created in 1949, it was only 40 years later that its
existence was questioned and only because it had laid claim to an
area that apparently is desired for its revenue. This fact must be
underscored because under Rule 66, §16 of the Rules of Court, a quo
warranto suit against a corporation for forfeiture of its charter must
be commenced within five (5) years from the time the act
complained of was done or committed. On the contrary, the State
and even the Municipality of Jimenez itself have recognized
SinacabanÊs corporate existence. Under Administrative Order No.
33 dated June 13, 1978 of this Court, as reiterated by §31 of the
Judiciary Reorganization Act of 1980 (B.P. Blg. 129), Sinacaban is
constituted part of a municipal circuit for purposes of the
establishment of Municipal Circuit Trial Courts in the country. For
its part, Jimenez had earlier recognized Sinacaban in 1950 by
entering into an agreement with it regarding their common
boundary. The agreement was embodied in Resolution No. 77 of the
Provincial Board of Misamis Occidental.
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60 Rollo, p. 14.
61 See Rollo, pp. 131, 135.
62 Vide Appendices „A‰ to „I‰. Cruz, Constitutional Law, 1998 ed., at p.
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452, which replicates the 1987 Constitution and the appended Ordinance
thereto.
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63 Id., at p. 446.
64 Id., at p. 448.
65 Id., at p. 426.
66 The following are the eighteen (18) municipalities referred to in the
DILG Certification, and their respective organic statutes, all of which
were enacted after Pelaez was decided in 1965:
1. Midsalip, Zamboanga del Sur·Republic Act No. 4871
entitled AN ACT CREATING THE MUNICIPALITY OF
MIDSALIP IN THE PROVINCE OF ZAMBOANGA DEL SUR
enacted without Executive approval on May 8, 1967.
2. Pitogo, Zamboanga del Sur·Republic Act No. 6490 entitled
AN ACT CREATING THE MUNICIPALITY OF PITOGO IN THE
PROVINCE OF ZAMBOANGA DEL SUR approved on June 17,
1972.
3. Naga, Zamboanga del Sur·Republic Act No. 4875 entitled
AN ACT CREATING THE MUNICIPALITY OF NAGA IN THE
PROVINCE OF ZAMBOANGA DEL SUR approved on May 18,
1967.
4. Magsaysay, Davao·Republic Act No. 4976 entitled AN
ACT CREATING THE MUNICIPALITY OF MAGSAYSAY IN THE
PROVINCE OF DAVAO enacted without Executive approval on
June 17, 1967.
5. Sta. Maria, Davao·Republic Act No. 4743 entitled AN ACT
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statute. Clearly then, the fact that there are valid organic
statutes passed by legislation recreating these eighteen
(18) municipalities is sufficient legal basis to accord a
different legal treatment to Andong as against these
eighteen (18) other municipalities.
We thus assert the proper purview to Section 442(d) of
the Local Government Code·that it does not serve to
affirm or reconstitute the judicially dissolved
municipalities such as Andong, which had been previously
created by presidential issuances or executive orders. The
provision affirms the legal personalities only of those
municipalities such as San Narciso, Alicia, and Sinacaban,
which may have been created using the same infirm legal
basis, yet were fortunate enough not to have been judicially
annulled. On the other hand, the municipalities judicially
dissolved in cases such as Pelaez, San Joaquin, and
Malabang, remain inexistent, unless recreated
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