University of the Philippines College of Law Constitutional Law 1 | Professor Charlemagne Yu Case Digest TOPIC: Congress Composition, Qualifications, and Terms of Office Population Requirement DOCTRINE: Section 5(3), Article VI CASE Number (including date): GR No. 189793, Apr 7, 2010 CASE Name: Aquino III and Robredo vs. COMELEC Ponente: Perez, J.
FACTS Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed R.A. 9716, which reapportioned the First (1st) and Second (2nd) Legislative Districts in the Province of Camarines Sur to create an additional legislative district. The first district municipalities of Libmanan, Minalabac, Pamplona, Pasacao, and San Fernando were combined with the second district municipalities of Milaor and Gainza to form a new second legislative district. Sen. Aquino III and Naga Mayor Robredo filed a petition for certiorari and prohibition. Petitioners contend that the reapportionment introduced by Republic Act No. 9716, runs afoul of the explicit constitutional standard that requires a minimum population of two hundred fifty thousand (250,000) for the creation of a legislative district. The petitioners claim that the reconfiguration by Republic Act No. 9716 of the first and second districts of Camarines Sur is unconstitutional, because the proposed first district will end up with a population of less than 250,000 or only 176,383. Section 5(3), Article VI of the 1987 Constitution: o Each legislative district shall comprise, as far as practicable, contiguous, compact, and adjacent territory. Each city with a population of at least two hundred fifty thousand, or each province, shall have at least one representative.
ISSUES 1. Procedural: Whether or not petitioners have locus standi 2. Procedural: Whether or not certiorari and prohibition were the correct remedies 3. Substantive: Whether or not R.A. 9716 was unconstitutional HELD (including the Ratio Decidendi)
(1) Yes: o Absence of direct injury on the part of the party seeking judicial review may be excused when the latter is able to craft an issue of transcendental importance. (2) No:
The remedy of Certiorari and Prohibition must be directed against a tribunal, board, officer or person, whether exercising judicial, quasijudicial, or ministerial functions. Respondents maintain that in implementing Republic Act No. 9716, they were not acting as a judicial or quasi-judicial body, nor were they engaging in the performance of a ministerial act. o BUT the transcendental importance of the issues involved in this case warrants that we set aside the technical defects and take primary jurisdiction over the petition at bar. (3) No: o Section 5(3) of Art VI clearly distinguished a province from a city. Meaning a province is automatically entitled to one representative while a city has to meet the 250,000 population requirement first. o The Province of Camarines Sur, with an estimated population of 1,693,821 in 2007 is ─ based on the formula and constant number of 250,000 used by the Constitutional Commission in nationally apportioning legislative districts among provinces and cities ─ entitled to two (2) districts in addition to the four (4) that it was given in the 1986 apportionment. o Population is not the only factor but is just one of several other factors in the composition of the additional district (i.e. Local Gov’t Code’s requisite for creating a province: not less than Php 20,000,000 annual income, plus at least 2,000 sq. m. OR at least 250,000 inhabitants). o
RULING: WHEREFORE, the petition is hereby DISMISSED. Republic Act No. 9716 entitled "An Act Reapportioning the Composition of the First (1st) and Second (2nd) Legislative Districts in the Province of Camarines Sur and Thereby Creating a New Legislative District From Such Reapportionment" is a VALID LAW. DISSENTING: Carpio, J. The R.A. violates the constitutional standard of “Legislators Represent People, not Provinces or Cities,” The constitutional standard of proportional representation is rooted in equality in voting power -- that each vote is worth the same as any other vote, not more or less. Translated in terms of legislative redistricting, this means equal representation for equal numbers of people or equal voting weight per legislative district. The Consti already provides for the standards with regard to the reapportionment of legislative districts. First is the rule on proportional representation, which is the universal standard in direct representation in legislatures. Second is the rule on a minimum population of 250,000 per
legislative district, which was not present in our previous Constitutions. Third is the rule on progressive ratio, which means that the number of legislative districts shall increase as the number of the population increases in accordance with the rule on proportional representation. Fourth is the rule on uniformity, which requires that the first three rules shall apply uniformly in all apportionments in provinces, cities and the Metropolitan Manila area. I DECLARE THIS LAW UNCONSTITUTIONAL.
