CORDILLERA BROAD COALITION vs. COMMISSION ON AUDIT (Public Corporation)

G.R. No. 79956               January 29, 1990

CORDILLERA BROAD COALITION, petitioner,

vs.

COMMISSION ON AUDIT, respondent.

FACTS:

Executive Order No. 220, issued by the President in the exercise of her legislative powers under Art. XVIII, sec. 6 of the 1987 Constitution, created the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) , which covers the provinces of Abra, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga-Apayao and Mountain Province and the City of Baguio [secs. 1 and 2]. It was created to accelerate economic and social growth in the region and to prepare for the establishment of the autonomous region in the Cordilleras.

Petitioners principally argue that by issuing E.O. No. 220 the President, in the exercise of her legislative powers prior to the convening of the first Congress under the 1987 Constitution, has virtually pre-empted Congress from its mandated task of enacting an organic act and created an autonomous region in the Cordilleras. 

It must be noted that RA No. 6766 "An Act Providing for an Organic Act for the Cordillera Autonomous Region," was enacted and signed into law during the pendency of the case. The Act recognizes the CAR and the offices and agencies created under E.O. No. 220.

ISSUE:

Whether E.O 220 the creation of Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), pre-empts the enactment of an organic act by the Congress and the creation of' the autonomous region in the Cordilleras.

RULING:

NO, It 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.

E.O. No. 220 did not establish an autonomous regional government. It created a region, covering a specified area, for administrative purposes with the main objective of coordinating the planning and implementation of programs and services [secs. 2 and 5]. 

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.

CAR is not the autonomous region in the Cordilleras contemplated by the Constitution, Thus, we now address petitioners' assertion that E. 0. No. 220 contravenes the Constitution by creating a new territorial and political subdivision.

After carefully considering the provisions of E.O. No. 220, we find that it did not create a new territorial and political subdivision or merge existing ones into a larger subdivision. The CAR is not a public corporation or a territorial and political subdivision. It does not have a separate juridical personality, unlike provinces, cities and municipalities. Neither is it vested with the powers that are normally granted to public corporations, e.g. the power to sue and be sued, the power to own and dispose of property, the power to create its own sources of revenue, etc. As stated earlier, the CAR was created primarily to coordinate the planning and implementation of programs and services in the covered areas.