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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:
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.