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Requisites for creation, conversion, division, merger, or dissolution time for May 10, 2010 elections.

for May 10, 2010 elections. SC in this case held that in all instances, Malolos
GR 188078 – Aldaba v COMELEC cannot attain the requirement needed.
Carpio J. o The Certification being based by the House bill was based on demographic
projections which is without legal effect because the Regional Director Miranda
Petitioners question the validity of a law which created a legislative district said to have failed has no basis and no authority to issue said certification.
to attain the required population for a creation of a legislative district under the Constitution. o The certification is void on its face because based on its own growth rate
The Congress is said to have used a Certification by the Regional Director of NSO which assumption, the population of Malolos will be less than 250k by 2010.
shows the Projected Population of Malolos by August 10, 2010. SC declared said law o In addition, demographic projections cannot be made for the entire year.
unconstitutional.  In any event, a city whose population has increased to 250k is entitled to have a
legislative district, only in the “immediately following election” AFTER THE
ATTAINMENT of the 250k population following the succeeding set of rules (Section 6
DOCTRINE of EO 135 issued by Fidel V Ramos):
 A city whose population has increased to 250k is entitled to have a legislative district, (d) First, the certifications on demographic projections can be issued only if declared
only in the “immediately following election” AFTER THE ATTAINMENT of the 250k official by the NATIONAL STATISTICS COORDINATION BOARD
population following the succeeding set of rules (Section 6 of EO 1358 issued by Fidel (e) Second, certifications based on demographic projections can be issued ONLY BY
V Ramos): THE NSO ADMINISTRATOR or his designated CERTIFYING OFFICER
(a) First, the certifications on demographic projections can be issued only if declared (f) Third, intercensal population projection must be as of the MIDDLE OF EVERY
official by the NATIONAL STATISTICS COORDINATION BOARD YEAR
(b) Second, certifications based on demographic projections can be issued ONLY BY  Court went to the certificate itself and noted that assuming the computation is based on
THE NSO ADMINISTRATOR or his designated CERTIFYING OFFICER the growth rate of 3.78% per year, if the population of Malolos is 175,291 in 2000, it will
(c) Third, intercensal population projection must be as of the MIDDLE OF EVERY only grow to 241,550 in 2010 up to 248,365 as of August 1, 2010. Even if the rate is
YEAR COMPOUNDED yearly it will grow only up to 249,333 far from the one in the certificate
stating population of 254,030 by 2010.
 Following the above, it is clear that the city cannot attain a population of 250k as needed
FACTS to be entitled to a legislative district. The law is clear that the city must attain 250k
1. Before May 1, 2009, province of Bulacan was represented in Congress through Four population, and thereafter, in the IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING ELECTION, such city
legislative district, the first district of which was comprised of Malolos, Hagonoy, shall have a district representative.
Calumpit, Pulilan, Bulacan, and Paombong. o No official record would show that the city would be at least 250k actual or
2. RA 9591 lapsed to law on May 1, 2009 which amended the charter of Malolos by projected prior to the May 10, 2010 elections, hence Malolos is not qualified to
creating a legislative district for the city. The population of Malolos on May 1, 2009 have a legislative district.
was a contested fact then, but the House bill filed relied then on the undated
certification issued by the Regional Director of NSO that “Projected population of
Malolos will be 254,030 by year 2010 using the population growth rate of 3.78% DISPOSITIVE PORTION
between 1995 to 2000. SC granted the petition – declaring RA 9591 unconstitutional.
3. Petitioners filed this petition contending that RA 9591 is unconstitutional for failing to
meet the minimum population threshold of 250k as provided under Sec 5(3) Article OTHER NOTES
VI of consti and Section 3 of Ordinance appended to the 1987 Consti.  OSG claimed that the Congress’ choice of means to comply with population
 OSG on the other hand contended that Congress’ use of projected population is is requirement is non-justiciable – SC held it is because there is a question calling for
non-justiciable as it involves a determination on the “wisdom of the standard judicial determination of compliance with constitutional standards by another branch of
adopted by the legislature to determine compliance with a constitutional government which is a question falling under the function of the court as granted by the
requirement. 1987 Consti (w/n there has been GAOD).
4. SC granted petition thereby declaring RA 9591 as unconstitutional for violating  Abad Dissent:
Article VI section 5(4) of 1987 Consti and Section 3 of Ordinance appended to the 1987 o Does not agree with the petitioner’s claim that Congress gravely abused its
Consti. discretion in relying on the projected population. Nothing in Section 5 Article VI of
Consti prohibits use of estimates or population projections in creation of legislative
ISSUE with HOLDING districts. The standard argued by the OSG is a political question, and hence in the
W/N Congress GAOD in relying with the 2010 projected population as basis for its absence of GAOD or patent violation of established parameters, Court cannot
reapportionment? YES, hence said law (RA 9591) is void for violating the constitution intrude in the wisdom adopted by the legislature.
and law for non-compliance of population requirement of 250,000. o EO 135 cannot apply in this case because the president issued said EO to provide
 The 1987 Consti requires that for a city to have a legislative district, the city must have guidelines on issuance of Certification of Population Sizes pursuant to the Local
a population of at least 250k. The issue brought here is whether or not the said Government Code. It is NOT CONCERNED with creation or conversion of a new
population of 250k must be actual or projected for the creation of a legislative district in legislative district.

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o At any rate, the certification issued by NSO Region III Director, whose office has
jurisdiction over Malolos City, partakes of official information based on official data.
o On “gerrymandering” (creation of separate representative districts to favor a
candidate) – should be noted to have been qualified as “as far as practicable”
under section 5(3) of the Constitution, hence the creation of the legislative district
would not militate against the constitutionality of RA 9716 because there is no
showing that the law was enacted to favor a candidate.
o Lastly, contrary to petitioners’ claim, RA 9591 is a reapportionment bill which does
not require a conduct of plebiscite for validity. There is no creation, division, merger
or abolition or alteration of boundaries of local government units.

DIGESTER: Dino De Guzman

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