SC: League of Cities ruling not unanimous

Contrary to the claim of Senator Risa Hontiveros, the Supreme Court on Thursday night said its ruling in the “League of Cities” case, which she cited, was not unanimous.

The high court issued the clarification after the senator cited the case as an example of the court previously reversing itself in unanimous decisions.

Her statements were made in the context of the debate over the archiving of the impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte, which the Supreme Court had invalidated in a 13-0 vote.

Atty. Camille Ting, in a statement issued to the media, said: “We clarify that the Supreme Court’s ruling in the League of Cities case was not unanimous. Please refer to the Decision and Resolutions published in the Supreme Court E-Library and the Philippine Reports.”

She added that the Court was “uncertain as to the source of the claim that the decision was unanimous.”

Hontiveros, during the Senate’s deliberation on whether to archive the impeachment complaint, cited the League of Cities case as an example of the Court reversing a prior ruling on a motion for reconsideration.

The senator also referenced the “International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications, Inc., et al. v. Greenpeace Southeast Asia” case, where a unanimous decision was similarly reversed.

Hontiveros’s statements were intended to support the position of Senate Minority Leader Tito Sotto, who had suggested the Senate wait for the Supreme Court’s final ruling on a pending motion for reconsideration related to the Duterte impeachment case before taking further action.