A group of local leaders residing in Mina made a petition to separate Mina, as an independent town from Pototan. On October 1, 1964, then President Diosdado Macapagal signed Executive Order No. 106 creating the Municipality of Mina. Mina’s status as a municipality became controversial. A complaint filed by then Senator Emmanuel Pelaez reached the Supreme Court. It had to do with the official acts of President Diosdado Macapagal issuing Executive Order for the creation of the Municipality of Mina, which Senator Pelaez found to be unconstitutional. The creation of a Municipality should be through a Bill passed in Congress. The legality of President Macapagal’s issuance of Executive Order No. 106 was questioned. In the end, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the complainant, Senator Pelaez, and ordered Mina to revert to its status as a suburb of Pototan. Its existence as an again independent Municipality was short-lived, only 14 months, from 1 January 1965 to 18 February 1966. It was then Congressman Ricardo Y. Ladrido of the Fourth District of the Province of Iloilo, who authored and sponsored House Bill No. 16661 creating the Municipality of Mina in 1968. On 9 September 1968, R.A. No. 5442 was passed, declaring Mina as a municipality of the Province of Iloilo.