ILOILO CITY, Philippines -- Flags were flown at half mast at the city halls of Iloilo and Passi on Monday as city government employees joined the continuing protests of the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) against the creation of more cities.

City hall employees wore black arm bands with the slogan "IRA Ibalik" (Return the IRA). Others wore black shirts to dramatize their demand to stop the conversion of towns into cities even if these had yet to meet the income requirements set by law, because of the drop in the cities' share in the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA).

The IRA is the tax share of local governments, which get 40 centavos of every peso in taxes collected by the government.

LCP chairman, Iloilo Mayor Jerry Treñas, who led the flag raising ceremonies, explained to the employees the reason for the protest and the impact the creation of 16 cities in 2007 would have on the IRA share of Iloilo.

The city's IRA share dropped by P36 million because of the new cities, he said.

"The protests will continue until we get a moratorium," Treñas told the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net) in a telephone interview.

Passi City, 50 kilometers north of Iloilo City, held a similar protest, the second consecutive Monday it has joined the LCP protest.

The LCP is also opposing House Bill 24 authored by Zamboanga Sibugay Representative Ann Hofer, which seeks to amend the Local Government Code by exempting the capital towns of provinces from the income requirements of cityhood.

Under the Local Government Code, a town should have a locally generated income of at least P100 million annually before it could be classified into a city. It should also either have a land area of at least 100 square kilometers or a population of 150,000.