G.R. No. 188078 Case Digest

G.R. No. 188078, January 25, 2010

Victorino Aldaba, etc.

vs COMELEC

Facts:

May 1, 2009, RA 9591 passed into a law, amending the Malolos Charter by creating a separate legislative district for the city. The population of Malolos is a contested fact given that the house bill for this law relied on the undated certification issued by NSO that the population of Malolos will be 254,030 by year 2010 due its current population growth rate.

Petitioners, taxpayers and registered residents of Malolos filed this petition contending that RA 9591 is unconstitutional for failing to meet the minimum population threshold of 250k for a city to merit representation in Congress.

OSG contended that Congress use of projected population is non-justiciable as it involves a determination on the wisdom of the standard adopted by the legislature to determine compliance with constitutional requirement.

Ruling:

RA 9591 is unconstitutional. The 1987 Constitution requires that for a city to have a legislative district, the city must have a population of at least two hundred fifty thousand.[5] The only issue here is whether the City of Malolos has a population of at least 250,000, whether actual or projected, for the purpose of creating a legislative district for the City of Malolos in time for the 10 May 2010 elections. If not, then RA 9591 creating a legislative district in the City of Malolos is unconstitutional.

The Certification of Regional Director Miranda, which is based on demographic projections, is without legal effect because Regional Director Miranda has no basis and no authority to issue the Certification. The Certification is also void on its face because based on its own growth rate assumption, the population of Malolos will be less than 250,000 in the year 2010. In addition, intercensal demographic projections cannot be made for the entire year. In any event, a city whose population has increased to 250,000 is entitled to have a legislative district only in the immediately following election after the attainment of the 250,000 population.

The Certification of Regional Director Miranda does not state that the demographic projections he certified have been declared official by the NSCB. The records of this case do not also show that the Certification of Regional Director Miranda is based on demographic projections declared official by the NSCB. The Certification, which states that the population of Malolos will be 254,030 by the year 2010, violates the requirement that intercensal demographic projections shall be as of the middle of every year. In addition, there is no showing that Regional Director Miranda has been designated by the NSO Administrator as a certifying officer for demographic projections in Region III. In the absence of such official designation, only the certification of the NSO Administrator can be given credence by this Court.

Any population projection forming the basis for the creation of a legislative district must be based on an official and credible source. That is why the OSG cited Executive Order No. 135, otherwise the population projection would be unreliable or speculative.

Section 3 of the Ordinance appended to the 1987 Constitution provides:

Any province that may be created, or any city whose population may hereafter increase to more than two hundred fifty thousand shall be entitled in the immediately following election to at least one Member or such number of members as it may be entitled to on the basis of the number of its inhabitants and according to the standards set forth in paragraph (3), Section 5 of Article VI of the Constitution. xxx. (Emphasis supplied)