7/29/2019 24 Villacorta

1/1

G.R. No. L-31249 August 19, 1986

SALVADOR VILLACORTA as City Engineer of Dagupan City, and JUAN S. CAGUIOA asRegister of Deeds of Dagupan City, petitioners,vs.GREGORIO BERNARDO and HON. MACARIO OFILADA as Judge of the Court of First Instance

of Pangasinan respondents.

Facts:

The municipal board of Dagupan City enacted an ordinance regulating subdivision plans over parcelsof land in the City Dagupan.

Section 1. Every proposed subdivision plan over any lot in the City of Dagupan, shaltbefore the same is submitted for approval and/or verification by the Bureau of Landsand/or the Land Registration Commission, be previously submitted to the CityEngineer of the City who shall see to it that no encroachment is made on any portionof the public domain, that the zoning ordinance and all other pertinent rules andregulations are observed.

Section 2. As service fee thereof, an amount equivalent to P0.30 per square meter ofevery lot resulting or win result from such subdivision shall be charged by the CityEngineer's Office.

Section 3. It shall be unlawful for the Register of Deeds of Dagupan City to allow theregistration of a subdivision plan unless there is prior written certification issued by theCity Engineer that such plan has already been submitted to his office and that thesame is in order.

The court of first instance declared said ordinance void for being in conflict with Act 496.

Section 1 of said ordinance clearly conflicts with Section 44 of Act 496, because thelatter law does not require subdivision plans to be submitted to the City Engineerbefore the same is submitted for approval to and verification by the General LandRegistration Office or by the Director of Lands as provided for in Section 58 of said

Act. Section 2 of the same ordinance also contravenes the provisions of Section 44 ofAct 496, the latter being silent on a service fee of PO.03 per square meter of every lotsubject of such subdivision application; Section 3 of the ordinance in question alsoconflicts with Section 44 of Act 496, because the latter law does not mention of acertification to be made by the City Engineer before the Register of Deeds allowsregistration of the subdivision plan; and the last section of said ordinance imposes apenalty for its violation, which Section 44 of Act 496 does not impose. In other words,Ordinance 22 of the City of Dagupan imposes upon a subdivision owner additionalconditions.

Issue: Whether or not the exercise of police power thru the enactment of the ordinance valid

Held: No. The local governments should exercise the police power only by virtue of a valid delegationfrom the national legislature under the general welfare clause. In the instant case, Ordinance No. 22suffers from the additional defect of violating this authority for legislation in contravention of thenational law by adding to its requirements.