Retired Supreme Court (SC) Justice Dante O. Tinga on Monday filed a petition before the SC seeking to invalidate Taguig City Ordinance No. 144 which increased the number of councilor seats in the city from eight to twelve per councilor district.
In September, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) En Banc issued a resolution allowing the said increase.
“It seeks to invalidate the unauthorized and illegal increase because it is void and unconstitutional. The measure requires a law and that power does not belong to the city council,” Tinga told reporters.
He added that Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 23 which seeks to include the enlisted Men’s Barrios (EMBO) barangays “does not have a force and effect of a law.”
He explained that “it did not undergo the prescribed three readings” and “did not bear the signature of the President as required by the Constitution.”
Tinga noted that a law creating a new legislative district is the proper solution.
Unless a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) is issued by the SC in due time, the Comelec will spend preparing the ballots for the additional seats per district, according to him.
Likewise, he underscored that candidates alike will be led to file their Certificates of Candidacy (COC) and voters will be voting for the unconstitutional and void seats.
Tinga served as an associate justice of the SC from 2003 to 2009 and was appointed as acting chairman of the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) in 2022.
