Creation Of A Province Must Comply With Statutory Requirements Under

RA 7160

Rodolfo, Victor and Rene, as taxpayers, filed a petition for certiorari before
the Supreme Court to declare as unconstitutional Republic Act 9355, which
created the Province of Dinagat. According to them, the province did not
meet the requirements of the Local Government Code, Republic Act 7160 in
terms of population and territory. The creation of the province will unjustly
deprive the people of Surigao del Norte a large chunk of territory, Internal
Revenue Allocation and rich resources from the area. Whereas RA 7610
mandates that a province to be created should have a population of at least
250,000, the Province of Dinagat, as of the 2000 NSO Census only had
106,591; whereas the law requires a new province to have at least 2,000
square kilometres of contiguous area, the new province will only have a land
area of 802.12 square kilometres. Further, the act of creating the province
was an act of gerrymandering.
In their defense, the respondents posited that the law is constitutional.
Dinagat as a new province complied with the requirements of Republic Act
7610 in terms of population and land area. The 2003 population of Dinagat
Islands based on the special census ordered by the then governor of Surigao
del Norte, Lyndon Barbers, was 371, 576 inhabitants; it is exempt from the
land area requirement because it is composed of several islands, which
exception is provided for under the Implementing Rules and Regulations of
Republic Act 7160.
Issue:
Whether or not the creation of the Province of Dinagat complied with the
requirements of the law.
The Supreme Court granted the petition and invalidated the law:
The territorial requirement in the Local Government Code is adopted in the
Rules and Regulations Implementing the Local Government Code of 1991
(IRR),thus:
ART. 9. Provinces.(a) Requisites for creationA province shall not be
created unless the following requisites on income and either population or
land area are present:
(1) Income An average annual income of not less than Twenty Million
Pesos (P20,000,000.00) for the immediately preceding two (2) consecutive
years based on 1991 constant prices, as certified by DOF. The average annual
income shall include the income accruing to the general fund, exclusive of
special funds, special accounts, transfers, and nonrecurring income; and
(2) Population or land area Population which shall not be less than two
hundred fifty thousand (250,000) inhabitants, as certified by National
Statistics Office; or land area which must be contiguous with an area of at
least two thousand (2,000) square kilometers, as certified by LMB. The
territory need not be contiguous if it comprises two (2) or more islands or is
separated by a chartered city or cities which do not contribute to the income
of the province. The land area requirement shall not apply where the
proposed province is composed of one (1) or more islands. The territorial
jurisdiction of a province sought to be created shall be properly identified by
metes and bounds.

However, the IRR went beyond the criteria prescribed by Section 461 of the
Local Government Code when it added the italicized portion above stating
that *t+he land area requirement shall not apply where the proposed
province is composed of one (1) or more islands. Nowhere in the Local
Government Code is the said provision stated or implied. Under Section 461
of the Local Government Code, the only instance when the territorial or land
area requirement need not be complied with is when there is already
compliance with the population requirement. The Constitution requires that
the criteria for the creation of a province, including any exemption from such
criteria, must all be written in the Local Government Code. There is no
dispute that in case of discrepancy between the basic law and the rules and
regulations implementing the said law, the basic law prevails, because the
rules and regulations cannot go beyond the terms and provisions of the basic
law.
Hence, the Court holds that the provision in Sec. 2, Art. 9 of the IRR stating
that *t+he land area requirement shall not apply where the proposed
province is composed of one (1) or more islands is null and void.
xxx
Courts determine the intent of the law from the literal language of the law
within the laws four corners. If the language of the law is plain, clear and
unambiguous, courts simply apply the law according to its express terms. If a
literal application of the law results in absurdity, impossibility or injustice,
then courts may resort to extrinsic aids of statutory construction like the
legislative history of the law, or may consider the implementing rules and
regulations and pertinent executive issuances in the nature of executive
construction.
In this case, the requirements for the creation of a province contained in Sec.
461 of the Local Government Code are clear, plain and unambiguous, and its
literal application does not result in absurdity or injustice. Hence, the
provision in Art. 9(2) of the IRR exempting a proposed province composed of
one or more islands from the land-area requirement cannot be considered
an executive construction of the criteria prescribed by the Local Government
Code. It is an extraneous provision not intended by the Local Government
Code and, therefore, is null and void.
xxx
The Province of Dinagat Islands also failed to comply with the population
requirement of not less than 250,000 inhabitants as certified by the NSO.
Based on the 2000 Census of Population conducted by the NSO, the
population of the Province of Dinagat Islands as of May 1, 2000 was only
106,951.
Although the Provincial Government of Surigao del Norte conducted a special
census of population in Dinagat Islands in 2003, which yielded a population
count of 371,000, the result was not certified by the NSO as required by the
Local Government Code. Moreover, respondents failed to prove that with
the population count of 371,000, the population of the original unit (mother
Province of Surigao del Norte) would not be reduced to less than the
minimum requirement prescribed by law at the time of the creation of the
new province.
xxx
In fine, R.A. No. 9355 failed to comply with either the territorial or the
population requirement for the creation of the Province of Dinagat Islands.
The Constitution clearly mandates that the creation of local government
units must follow the criteria established in the Local Government Code. Any
derogation of or deviation from the criteria prescribed in the Local
Government Code violates Sec. 10, Art. X of the Constitution.
Hence, R.A. No. 9355 is unconstitutional for its failure to comply with the
criteria for the creation of a province prescribed in Sec. 461 of the Local
Government Code.

xxx
Gerrymandering is a term employed to describe an apportionment of
representative districts so contrived as to give an unfair advantage to the
party in power. Fr. Joaquin G. Bernas, a member of the 1986 Constitutional
Commission, defined gerrymandering as the formation of one legislative
district out of separate territories for the purpose of favoring a candidate or
a party. The Constitution proscribes gerrymandering, as it mandates each
legislative district to comprise, as far as practicable, a contiguous, compact
and adjacent territory.
As stated by the Office of the Solicitor General, the Province of Dinagat
Islands consists of one island and about 47 islets closely situated together,
without the inclusion of separate territories. It is an unsubstantiated
allegation that the province was created to favor Congresswoman Glenda
Ecleo-Villaroman.
EN BANC, G.R. No. 180050, February 10, 2010, RODOLFO G. NAVARRO,
VICTOR F. BERNAL, and RENE O. MEDINA, Petitioners, vs.EXECUTIVE
SECRETARY EDUARDO ERMITA, representing the President of the Philippines;
Senate of the Philippines, represented by the SENATE PRESIDENT; House of
Representatives, represented by the HOUSE SPEAKER; GOVERNOR ROBERT
ACE S. BARBERS, representing the mother province of Surigao del Norte;
GOVERNOR GERALDINE ECLEO VILLAROMAN, representing the new Province
of Dinagat Islands, Respondents.