Professional Documents
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Navarro vs. Ermita
Navarro vs. Ermita
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*EN BANC.
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SPECIAL
CIVIL
ACTION
in
the
Supreme
Court.
Certiorari.
The facts are stated in the opinion of the Court.
Victor F. Bernal for petitioners.
Edmundo L. Zerda for respondent Gov. Robert Ace S.
Barbers.
Mario P. Menil for respondent Gov. Geraldine B. Ecleo
Villaroman.
Simeon T. Silva, Jr. collaborating counsel for
respondent Gov. Geraldine B. EcleoVillaroman.
Office of the Senate Legal Counsel for respondent
Senate of the Philippines.
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PERALTA,J.:
This is a petition for certiorari under Rule 65 of the
Rules of Court seeking to nullify Republic Act (R.A.) No.
9355, otherwise known as An Act Creating the Province of
Dinagat Islands, for being unconstitutional.
Petitioners Rodolfo G. Navarro, Victor F. Bernal, and
Rene O. Medina aver that they are taxpayers and residents
of the Province of Surigao del Norte. They have served the
Province of Surigao del Norte once as ViceGovernor and
members of the Provincial Board, respectively. They claim
to have previously filed a similar petition, which was
dismissed on technical grounds.1 They allege that the
creation of the Dinagat Islands as a new province, if
uncorrected, perpetuates an illegal act of Congress, and
unjustly deprives the people of Surigao del Norte of a large
chunk of its territory, Internal Revenue Allocation and rich
resources from the area.
The facts are as follows:
The mother province of Surigao del Norte was created
and established under R.A. No. 2786 on June 19, 1960. The
province is composed of three main groups of islands: (1)
the Mainland and Surigao City (2) Siargao Island and
Bucas Grande and (3) Dinagat Island, which is composed
of seven
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1On November 14, 2006, petitioners Rodolfo Navarro, Victor F. Bernal,
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GERRYMANDERING.
III
WHETHER OR NOT THE RESULT OF THE PLEBISCITE IS
CREDIBLE AND TRULY REFLECTS THE MANDATE OF THE
PEOPLE.8
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7Memorandum of respondent Governor Robert Ace S. Barbers, Rollo,
p. 676.
8Memorandum of Petitioners, Id., at pp, 462463.
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15Emphasis supplied.
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18Tan v. Commission on Elections, supra note 16 at 749.
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(2)Three (3) members of the Senate to be appointed by the President
of the Senate, to include the Chairman of the Committee on Local
Government
(3)Three (3) members of the House of Representatives to be
appointed by the Speaker, to include the Chair
man of the Committee on
Local Government
(4)The Cabinet, represented by the following:
(i)Secretary of the Interior and Local Government
(ii)Secretary of Finance
(iii)Secretary of Budget and Management and
(5)One (1) representative from each of the following:
(i)The League of Provinces
(ii)The League of Cities
(iii)The League of Municipalities and
(iv)The Liga ng mga Barangay.
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21League of Cities of the Philippines v. Commission on Elections, G.R.
Nos. 176951, 177499, 178056, November 18, 2008, 571 SCRA 263.
22Hijo Plantation, Inc. v. Central Bank, G.R. No. L34526, August 9,
1988, 164 SCRA 192.
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(c)It is likewise the policy of the State to require all national agencies
and offices to conduct periodic consultations with appropriate local
government units, nongovernmental and peoples organizations, and other
concerned sectors of the community before any project or program is
implemented in their respective jurisdictions.
24G.R. No. 163980, August 2, 2006, 497 SCRA 581.
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26G.R. No. 109455, November 11, 1993, 227 SCRA 728.
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of
Organization.There
shall
be
an
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(f)Organizational Structure
(1) x x x Pending election of the presidents of the municipal, city,
provincial, and metropolitan chapters of the liga, the incumbent
presidents of the association of barangay councils in the municipality, city,
province, and Metropolitan Manila shall continue to act as presidents of
the corresponding liga chapters under this Rule.
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30League of Cities of the Philippines v. Commission on Elections, supra
note 17.
31Id.
32Id.
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concerned and
(c)Land area.It must be contiguous, unless it comprises two (2) or
more islands or is separated by a local government unit independent of
the others properly identified by metes and bounds with technical
descriptions and sufficient to provide for such basic services and facilities
to meet the requirements of its populace.
Compliance with the foregoing indicators shall be attested to
by the Department of Finance (DOF), the National
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and I want to have my own or our own special census with the
help of the provincial government. So, that is how it was
conducted. Then, they told me that the official population of the
proposed province will be on 2010. But at this moment, that is
the official population of 106,000, even if our special
census, we came up with 371,000 plus.
So, that is it.
THE CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Congresswoman.
Your insights will be reflected in my reply to Senate President
Drilon, so that he can also answer the letter of Bishop Cabahug.
MS. VERGARA. Mr. Chairman, may clarifications lang din po
ako.
THE CHAIRMAN. Please.
MS. VERGARA. Yon po sa sinasabi naming estimated
population, we only based the computation doon sa growth rate
lang po talaga, excluding the migration. xxxx
MR. CHAIRMAN. Nong mga residents.
MS. VERGARA. Yes, sir, natural growth lang po talaga siya.36
in
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36Annex A, Rollo, pp. 5161.
37Annex AA, Id., at p. 498. (Emphasis supplied.)
38Emphasis supplied.
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41Ceniza v. Commission on Elections, L52304, January 28, 1980, 95
SCRA 775.
42 Bernas, The 1987 Constitution of the Philippines: A Commentary,
625 (2006).
43Id.
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DISSENTING OPINION
NACHURA,J.:
The ponencia of Justice Peralta seeks to strike down an
act of both the legislative and the executive branchesthe
law creating the province of Dinagat Islands. I register my
dissent to the ponencia for I find this judicial interference
unnecessary and, in fact, unwarranted in law. Petitioners
have not presented a genuine constitutional issue requiring
this Courts intervention. In petitioners earlier and
similarlyworded petitionG.R. No. 175158the Court
found no compelling reason to brush aside technicalities of
procedure and resolve the merits of the case. Just like G.R.
No. 175158, the present petition deserves the same
dismissive treatment from the Court.
I begin with a brief restatement of the pertinent
antecedent events.
On October 2, 2006, the President of the Republic
approved Republic Act (R.A.) No. 9355,1 the law creating
the province of Dinagat Islands. On December 3 of the
same year, the Commission on Elections conducted the
plebiscite for the ratification of the said creation. This
yielded 69,943 affirmative votes and 63,502 negative
votes.2 Having gotten the nod of the people, the President
appointed the interim set of provincial officials who
consequently took their oath of office on January 26, 2007.
Thereafter, in the May 14, 2007 National and Local
Elections, the Dinagatnons elected their new set of
provincial officials who assumed office on July 1, 2007.3
Not amenable to the advancement of their locality,
petitioners, former politicians in the mother province of
Surigao del Norte, filed before this Court, on November 10,
2006, G.R.
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1 Passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate on August 28,
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the Entry of Judgment on April 11, 2007. (Id., at pp. 77A and 112.)
6 Rollo, p. 25.
7 Became effective on January 1, 1992.
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8 Rollo, p. 207.
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9 Id., at p. 209.
10 Id., at p. 498.
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11 Emphasis and underscoring supplied.
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Provided, That, the creation thereof shall not reduce the land area,
population and income of the original unit or units at the time of said
creation to less than the minimum requirements prescribed herein.
(b) 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.
(c)The average annual income shall include the income accruing to
the general fund, exclusive of special funds, trust funds, transfers, and
nonrecurring income.12
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12 Underscoring supplied.
13 Emphasis supplied.
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892 (1891).
15 United States v. Hunter, 80 F.2d 968, 970 (1936). This case clarifies
that when the intervening water is the high seas over which neither of the
lands has exclusive jurisdiction, they are not contiguous territories though
no dry land intervenes.
16 No. L73155, July 11, 1986, 142 SCRA 727, 749750.
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government
structure
instituted
through
system
of
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your place. Why? Because you never have any reason for economic
viability.
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CHAIRMAN PIMENTEL: Okay, what about land area?
HON. LUMAUIG: 1,500 square kilometers
HON. ANGARA: Walang problema yon, in fact thats not very
critical, yong land area because
CHAIRMAN PIMENTEL: Okay, ya, our, the Senate version is
3.5, 3,500 square meters, ah, square kilometers.
HON. LAGUADA: Ne, Ne. A province is constituted for the
purpose of administrative efficiency and delivery of basic services.
CHAIRMAN PIMENTEL: Right.
HON. LAGUADA: Actually, when you come down to it, when
government was instituted, there is only one central government
and then everybody falls under that. But it was later on
subdivided into provinces for purposes of administrative
efficiency.
CHAIRMAN PIMENTEL: Okay.
HON. LAGUADA: Now, what were seeing now is that the
administrative efficiency is no longer there precisely because the
land areas that we are giving to our governors is so wide that no
one man can possibly administer all of the complex machineries
that are needed.
Secondly, when you say delivery of basic services, as pointed
out by Cong. Alfelor, there are sections of the province which have
never been visited by public officials, precisely because they dont
have the time nor the energy anymore to do that because its so
wide. Now, by compressing the land area and by reducing the
population requirement, we are, in effect, trying to follow the
basic policy of why we are creating provinces, which is to deliver
basic services and to make it more efficient in administration.
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20 Herrera, Remedial Law, Vol. III (1999 ed.), pp. 295296.
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