Navarro v.

Ermita
April 12, 2011
Nachura, J.

Facts: On October 2, 1996, the President approved RA 9355 creating the Province of Dinagat
Islands with an income of 82.69 M, a population of 106,951, and a land area of 802.12 sq. km. On
December 3, 1996, the COMELEC conducted a mandatory plebiscite for ratification of the creation
of the province. Voters from the mother province, Surigao del Norte, and the Dinagat Islands
participated. The voting yielded 69,943 affirmative votes and 63,502 negative votes. The President
then appointed an interim set of provincial officials. On June 1, 2007, a new set of provincial
officials elected and assumed office. On February 10, 2010, RA 9355 was declared
unconstitutional as Dinagat Islands failed to meet the minimum land area requirement for a
province. In the same decision, the Court declared as null and void a provision on the
Implementing Rules and Regulations of RA 9355 stating that the land area requirement shall not
apply where the proposed province is composed on one or more islands for being beyond the
ambit of the Local Government Code, inasmuch as such exemption is not expressly provided in the
law. The present action is an Urgent Motion to Recall Entry of Judgment.

Issue: Whether or not a territory composed on more than one island is exempt from the minimum
land area requirement.

Held: Yes. When the local government unit to be created consists of one or more islands, it is
exempt from the land area requirement as expressly provided in the Local Government Code if the
local government unit to be created is a municipality or a component city. The exemption is not
found in the enumeration of requisites for the creation of a province under the same Code,
although it is expressly stated under the IRR. With the formulation of the LGC-IRR, which
amounted to both executive and legislative construction of the LGC, the many details to implement
the LGC had already been put in place, which Congress understood to be impractical and not too
urgent to immediately translate into direct amendments to the LGC. However, Congress,
recognizing the capacity and viability of Dinagat to become a full-fledged province, enacted RA
9355, following the exemption from the land area requirement, which, with respect to the creation of
provinces, can only be found as an express provision in the LGC-IRR. In effect, pursuant to its
plenary legislative powers, Congress breathed flesh and blood into that exemption in Article 9(2) of
the LGC-IRR and transformed it into law when it enacted R.A. No. 9355 creating the Island
Province of Dinagat. The Court then declares RA 9355 constitutional and valid.

Note: Weird na ito yung cited case sa page 16 ng reviewer ni Atty. Agra kasi yung statement doon
kinuha sa earlier decision (2010) na inoverturn ng case na to. I digested the second decision kasi
yun yung date na nakalagay sa citation. LABO. :(