Aquino III V Comelec

TITLE:
SENATOR BENIGNO SIMEON C. AQUINO III and MAYOR JESSE ROBREDO, petitioners, vs. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS
represented by its Chairman JOSE A.R. MELO and its Commissioners, RENE V. SARMIENTO, NICODEMO T. FERRER, LUCENITO
N. TAGLE, ARMANDO VELASCO, ELIAS R. YUSOPH AND GREGORIO LARRAZABAL, respondents.
G.R. NO. 189793, DATE: Apr 7, 2010

PONENTE: Perez, J. TOPIC:
FACTS OF THE CASE:
This case comes before this Court by way of a Petition for Certiorari and Prohibition under Rule
65 of the Rules of Court. In this original action, petitioners Senator Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III and
Mayor Jesse Robredo, as public officers, taxpayers and citizens, seek the nullification as
unconstitutional of 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." Petitioners consequently pray that the
respondent Commission on Elections be restrained from making any issuances and from taking any
steps relative to the implementation of Republic Act No. 9716.
the enactment of Republic Act No. 9716, the first and second districts of Camarines Sur were
reconfigured in order to create an additional legislative district for the province. Hence, 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.
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. 5 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.
Petitioners rely on Section 5 (3), Article VI of the 1987 Constitution as basis for the cited 250,000
minimum population standard.
PROCEDURAL HISTORY:
STATEMENT OF ISSUE/S:
Whether or not R.A. 9716 was unconstitutional
1
HOLDING
No, Neither in the text nor in the essence of Section 5, Article VI of the Constitution can, the
petition find support. And the formulation of the Ordinance in the implementation of the provision, nay,
even the Ordinance itself, refutes the contention that a population of 250,000 is a constitutional sine
qua non for the formation of an additional legislative district in a province, whose population growth
has increased beyond the 1986 numbers.
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. Significantly, petitioner Aquino concedes
this point. 40 In other words, Section 5 of Article VI as clearly written allows and does not prohibit
an additional district for the Province of Camarines Sur, such as that provided for in Republic Act
No. 9786;
Based on the pith and pitch of the exchanges on the Ordinance on the protests and complaints
against strict conformity with the population standard, and more importantly based on the final
districting in the Ordinance on considerations other than population, the reapportionment or the
recomposition of the first and second legislative districts in the Province of Camarines Sur that
resulted in the creation of a new legislative district is valid even if the population of the new district
is 176,383 and not 250,000 as insisted upon by the petitioner.
The ruling is that population is not the only factor but is just one of several other factors in the
composition of the additional district. Such settlement is in accord with both the text of the
Constitution and the spirit of the letter, so very clearly given form in the Constitutional debates on the
exact issue presented by this petition.
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.
notes, if any:

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TITLE:

G.R. NO. 189793, DATE: Apr 7, 2010

Whether or not R.A. 9716 was unconstitutional

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