The Supreme Court denied the petition for certiorari filed by Caloocan City against Malabon City on their boundary dispute regarding Barangays Libis and Baesa for not following the proper legal procedures.

Caloocan challenged the constitutionality of the Malabon City Charter enacted in 2001 which supposedly claimed Caloocan’s barangays without a plebiscite or direct vote of the qualified voters of Caloocan.

Caloocan said the area covers around 37 hectares of land and with almost 9,000 registered voters who voted in all local elections for various positions in Caloocan from 1961 up to 2001.

https://x.com/SCPh_PIO/status/1893958129257492962

In a decision promulgated by the 2nd Division on November 4, 2024, the proper procedure for resolving boundary disputes was not followed under the Local Government Code.

“All told, the petition for declaratory relief was not the proper remedy as the core issue in this  case is a boundary dispute that must be resolved by joint referral to the Sanggunian of the concerned LGUs (Local Government Units) for amicable settlement,” the court said in the decision penned by Associate Justice Antonio Kho, Jr.

The court noted that if the mode of settlement via LGUs fails, the dispute may then be elevated to the Regional Trial Court.

“It is well to reiterate the court’s basic policy of staying its hand from ruling on the constitutional issue if the controversy on the constitutionality of a statute can be settled on other grounds,” the court said.