2. Ultra Vires Acts

Ultra Vires Acts

Concept

An LGU act is ultra vires when it goes beyond the powers and functions prescribed for the LGU. Local autonomy gives LGUs room to act, but it does not authorize them to override national law or exercise a granted power without observing its limits. (Sec. 3, Rep. Act No. 7160)¹ (Province of Occidental Mindoro v. Agusan Petroleum and Mineral Corporation, G.R. No. 248932, 14 January 2025)²

Governing provisions

Section 3 of the Local Government Code calls for an effective allocation of powers, functions, responsibilities, and resources among LGUs. It also directs provinces, cities, and municipalities to ensure that the acts of their component LGUs remain within the scope of their prescribed powers and functions. (Sec. 3, Rep. Act No. 7160)¹

Section 17 allows LGUs to exercise powers and perform functions necessary, appropriate, or incidental to the efficient and effective provision of basic services and facilities. This authority should be read with the limits governing the particular act being undertaken. (Sec. 17, Rep. Act No. 7160)³ (Sec. 20, Rep. Act No. 7160)⁴

Requisites / Rules

• Identify the power invoked and the LGU authorized to exercise it. The Code allocates powers among LGUs and provides for oversight of component units’ acts within their prescribed powers and functions. (Sec. 3, Rep. Act No. 7160)¹
• Check the statutory conditions for the act. For example, a city or municipality may reclassify agricultural land through a sanggunian ordinance after public hearings, in the cases and within the percentage limits stated in Section 20. (Sec. 20, Rep. Act No. 7160)⁴
• Check consistency with national law. An LGU cannot use local autonomy to completely prohibit what the national legislature expressly allows. (Province of Occidental Mindoro v. Agusan Petroleum and Mineral Corporation)²
• Where police power is invoked, check due process and equal protection, as well as whether the means are reasonably necessary, the least intrusive alternative to private rights, and not unduly oppressive. (City of Koronadal v. Yellow Bus Lines, Inc., G.R. No. 265769, 12 August 2025)⁵

Distinctions

An act is not beyond LGU authority merely because no provision expressly names the particular activity. The Court recognized that barangays may undertake fund-raising activities despite the absence of an express prohibition, while harmonizing local autonomy with the applicable national law. That differs from an ordinance that directly contradicts what national law permits. (Republic v. Association of Barangay Councils, G.R. No. 207118, 22 April 2025)⁶ (Province of Occidental Mindoro v. Agusan Petroleum and Mineral Corporation)²

Key doctrines

In Province of Occidental Mindoro, the Court held invalid local ordinances and resolutions completely banning large-scale mining because they contravened Republic Act No. 7942. In City of Koronadal, an outright ban on private terminals coupled with compulsory use of a fee-charging common terminal was not reasonably necessary and was unduly oppressive. (Province of Occidental Mindoro v. Agusan Petroleum and Mineral Corporation)² (City of Koronadal v. Yellow Bus Lines, Inc.)⁵

Exceptions

Section 20 permits the President, when public interest requires and upon recommendation of the National Economic and Development Authority, to authorize a city or municipality to reclassify land beyond the ordinary percentage limits. The statutory exception requires that authorization; it is not an unrestricted local power. (Sec. 20, Rep. Act No. 7160)⁴

Bar tip

Ask two questions: Does the LGU have authority to act, and did it exercise that authority within statutory and constitutional limits? Local autonomy does not answer either question by itself. (Sec. 3, Rep. Act No. 7160)¹ (Province of Occidental Mindoro v. Agusan Petroleum and Mineral Corporation)² (City of Koronadal v. Yellow Bus Lines, Inc.)⁵