Cordillera Broad Coalition vs. Commission on Audit

Facts:

Pursuant to a ceasefire agreement signed on September 13, 1986, the Cordillera People’s Liberation Army (CPLA) and the Cordillera Bodong Administration agreed that the Cordillera people shall not undertake their demands through armed and violent struggle but by peaceful means, such as political negotiations.

A subsequent joint agreement was then arrived at by the two parties.  Such agreement states that they are to:

Par. 2.  Work together in drafting an Executive Order to create a preparatory body that could perform policy-making and administrative functions and undertake consultations and studies leading to a draft organic act for the Cordilleras.

Par. 3. Have representatives from the Cordillera panel join the study group of the R.P. Panel in drafting the Executive Order.

Pursuant to the above joint agreement, E.O. 220 was drafted by a panel of the Philippine government and of the representatives of the Cordillera people.  This was then signed into law by President Corazon Aquino, in the exercise of her legislative powers, creating the Cordillera Administrative Region [CAR], which covers the provinces of Abra, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga-Apayao and Mountain Province and the City of Baguio.

Petitioners assail the constitutionality of E.O. 220 on the primary ground that by issuing the said order, the President, in the exercise of her legislative powers, had virtually pre-empted Congress from its mandated task of enacting an organic act and created an autonomous region in the Cordilleras.

Issue:

Whether or not E.O. 220 is constitutional

Ruling:

The Supreme Court has come to the conclusion that petitioners’ are unfounded.

E.O. 220 does not create the autonomous region contemplated in the Constitution. It merely provides for transitory measures in anticipation of the enactment of an organic act and the creation of an autonomous region. In short, it prepares the ground for autonomy. This does not necessarily conflict with the provisions of the Constitution on autonomous regions.

The Constitution outlines a complex procedure for the creation of an autonomous region in the Cordilleras.  Since such process will undoubtedly take time, the President saw it fit to provide for some measures to address the urgent needs of the Cordilleras in the meantime that the organic act had not yet been passed and the autonomous region created.  At this time, the President was still exercising legislative powers as the First Congress had not yet convened.

Based on Article X Section 18 of the Constitution (providing the basic structure of government in the autonomous region), the Supreme Court finds that E. O. No. 220 did not establish an autonomous regional government.  The bodies created by E. O. No. 220 do not supplant the existing local governmental structure; nor are they autonomous government agencies. They merely constitute the mechanism for an "umbrella" that brings together the existing local governments, the agencies of the National Government, the ethno-linguistic groups or tribes and non-governmental organizations in a concerted effort to spur development in the Cordilleras.

In fact, it was Republic Act No. 6766, the organic act for the Cordillera autonomous region signed into law on October 23, 1989, and the plebiscite for the approval of the act which completed the autonomous region-creating process outlined in the Constitution.

Therefore, E.O. 220 is constitutional.  Petition is dismissed for lack of merit.