ORDILLO v. COMELEC (4 December 1990, Gutierrez, Jr., J.) Subst !

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Issue# WON the province of Ifugao, being the only province which voted favorably for the creation of the Cordillera Autonomous Region can, alone, legally and validly constitute such Region

$etiti%!ers# There can be no valid CAR in only one province as the Constitution and Republic Act No !"!! re#uire that the said Region be composed of more than one constituent unit

&e"'# NO R ti%# It is e$plicit in Article %, &ection '( of the ')*" Constitution that+ ,There shall be created autonomous regions in -uslim -indanao and in the Cordillera consisting of provinces, cities, municipalities and geographical areas sharing common and distinctive historical and cultural heritage, economic and social structures, and other relevant characteristics./ o The 0eywords 1 provinces, cities, municipalities and geographical areas connote that /region/ is to be made up of more than one constituent unit The term /region/ used in its ordinary sense means two or more provinces This is supported by the fact that the '2 regions into which the 3hilippines is divided for administrative purposes are groupings of contiguous provinces 4IR3 of ')"56 A reading of the provisions of RA !"!! strengthens the position that the Region cannot be constituted from only one province It can be gleaned that Congress never intended that a single province may constitute the autonomous region o Article 7, &ections ' and 8 vest the legislative power in the Cordillera Assembly whose members shall be elected from regional assembly districts apportioned among provinces and the cities composing the Autonomous Region If we follow the respondent9s position, the members of such Cordillera Assembly shall then be elected only from the province of Ifugao creating an aw0ward predicament of having two legislative bodies e$ercising their legislative powers over the province of

Ifugao o Article %II, &ection ': creates a Regional 3lanning and ;evelopment <oard composed of the Cordillera =overnor, all the provincial governors and city mayors or their representatives, two members of the Cordillera Assembly, and members representing the private sector The <oard has a counterpart in the provincial level called the 3rovincial 3lanning and ;evelopment Coordinator The <oard9s functions 4Article %II, &ection ':, par 5, Republic Act No !"!!6 are almost similar to those of the 3rovincial Coordinator9s o Article %%I, &ection '2 4<6 4c6 allotting the huge amount of 3':,:::,::: :: to the Regional =overnment for its initial organi>ational re#uirements cannot be construed as funding only a lone and small province The province of Ifugao ma0es up only ''? of the total population of the proposed area of RA !"!! which include <enguet, -ountain 3rovince, Abra, @alingaAApayao and <aguio City It has the second smallest number of inhabitants from among the provinces and city above mentioned 4-anila &tandard, ')):6 Other provisions violated+ o &ection '! of Article 7 calls for a Regional Commission on Appointments with the &pea0er as Chairman and ! members coming from different provinces and cities in the Region Bnder the respondents9 view, the Commission would have a Chairman and only one member It would never have a #uorum o &ection 2 of Article 7I calls for cabinet members, as far as practicable, to come from various provinces and cities of the Region o &ection ' of Article 7II creates a system of tribal courts for the various indigenous cultural communities of the Region o &ection ) of Article %7 re#uires the development of a common regional language based upon the various languages and dialects in the region which regional language in turn is e$pected to enrich the national language Abbas v CO-CDCC is not applicable The Abbas case laid down the rule on the meaning of maEority in the phrase /by maEority of the votes cast by the constituent units called for the purpose/ found in the Constitution, Article %, &ection '* It stated+ ,What is re#uired by the Constitution is simple maEority of votes approving the Organic Act in individual constituent units and not a double maEority of the votes in all constituent units put together, as well as in the individual constituent units /

o The Abbas case established the rule to follow on which provinces and cities shall comprise the autonomous regions Fowever, there is nothing in the Abbas decision which deals with the issue on whether an autonomous region could e$ist despite the fact that only one province or one city is to constitute it