Aldaba vs. COMELEC, G.R. No.

188078, January 25, 2010

Facts: This case is an original action for Prohibition to declareunconstitutional, R.A.

9591 which creates a legislative district for the City of Malolos, Bulacan. Allegedly, the
R.A. violates the minimum population requirement for the creation of a legislative
district in a city. Before the May 1, 2009, the province of Bulacan was represented in
Congress through 4 legislative districts. Before the passage of the Act through House
Bill 3162 (later converted to House Bill 3693) and Senate Bill 1986, Malolos City had a
population of 223, 069 in 2007.

House Bill 3693 cites the undated Certification, as requested to be issued to Mayor
Domingo (then Mayor of Malolos), by Region III Director Miranda of NSO that the
population of Malolos will be as projected, 254,030 by the year 2010.

Petitioners contended that R.A. 9591 is unconstitutional for failing to meet the minimum
population threshold of 250,000 for a city to meritrepresentative in Congress.

Issue: Whether or not R.A. 9591, “Án act creating a legislative district for the City of
Malolos, Bulacan” is unconstitutional as petitioned. And whether the City of Malolos has
at least 250,000 actual or projected.

Held: It was declared by the Supreme Court that the R.A. 9591 isunconstitutional for
being violative of Section 5 (3), Article VI of the 1987 Constitution and Section 3 of the
Ordinance appended to the 1987 Constitution on the grounds that, as required by the
1987 Constitution, a city must have at least 250,000 population. In relation with this,
Regional Director Miranda issued a Certification which is based on the demographic
projections, was declared without legal effect because the Regional Director has no
basis and no authority to issue the Certification based on the following statements
supported by Section 6 of E.O. 135 as signed by President Fidel V. Ramos, which
provides:

The certification on demographic projection can be issued only if such are declared
official by the Nat’l Statistics Coordination Board. In this case, it was not stated whether
the document have been declared official by the NSCB.

The certification can be issued only by the NSO Administrator or his designated
certifying officer, in which case, the Regional Director of Central Luzon NSO is
unauthorized.
The population projection must be as of the middle of the year, which in this case, the
Certification issued by Director Miranda was undated.

It was also computed that the correct figures using the growth rate, even if
compounded, the Malolos population of 223,069 as of August 1, 2007 will grow to only
249,333 as of August 1, 2010.

It was emphasized that the 1935 Constitution, that this Court ruled that the aim of
legislative reappointment is to equalize the population and voting power among
districts.

ALDABA VS. COMELEC

Jan. 25, 2010

Facts:
This is an original action for Prohibition to declare unconstitutional Republic Act No. 9591 (RA
9591), creating a legislative district for the city of Malolos, Bulacan, for violating the minimum
population requirement for the creation of a legislative district in a city.

On 1 May 2009, RA 9591 lapsed into law, amending Malolos City Charter,2 by creating a separate
legislative district for the city. The population of Malolos City was 223,069. The population of
Malolos City on 1 May 2009 is a contested fact but there is no dispute that House Bill No. 3693 relied
on an undated certification issued by a Regional Director of the National Statistics Office (NSO) that
“the projected population of the Municipality of Malolos will be 254,030 by the year 2010 using the
population growth rate of 3.78 between 1995 to 2000.”

Issue:
RA 9591 is unconstitutional for failing to meet the minimum population threshold of 250,000 for a
city to merit representation in Congress as provided under Section 5(3), Article VI of the 1987
Constitution and Section 3 of the Ordinance appended to the 1987 Constitution.

Held:
We grant the petition and declare RA 9591 unconstitutional for being violative of Section 5(3), Article
VI of the 1987 Constitution and Section 3 of the Ordinance appended to the 1987 Constitution

Ruling:
YES. The 1987 Constitution requires that for a city to have a legislative district, the city must have “a
population of at least two hundred fifty thousand.”

House Bill No. 3693 cites the undated Certification of Regional Director Alberto N. Miranda of
Region III of the National Statistics Office (NSO) as authority that the population of the City of
Malolos “will be 254,030 by the year 2010.” The Certification states that the population of “Malolos,
Bulacan as of May 1, 2000 is 175,291.” The Certification further states that it was “issued upon the
request of Mayor Danilo A. Domingo of the City of Malolos in connection with the proposed creation
of Malolos City as a lone congressional district of the Province of Bulacan.”

First, certifications on demographic projections can be issued only if such projections are declared
official by the National Statistics Coordination Board (NSCB). Second, certifications based on
demographic projections can be issued only by the NSO Administrator or his designated certifying
officer. Third, intercensal population projections must be as of the middle of every year.
Moreover, the Certification states that “the total population of Malolos, Bulacan as of May 1, 2000 is
175,291.” The Certification also states that the population growth rate of Malolos is 3.78% per year
between 1995 and 2000. Based on a growth rate of 3.78% per year, the population of Malolos of
175,291 in 2000 will grow to only 241,550 in 2010.

Any population projection forming the basis for the creation of a legislative district must be based on
an official and credible source. That is why the OSG cited Executive Order No. 135, otherwise the
population projection would be unreliable or speculative.
G.R. No. 188078 Case Digest
G.R. No. 188078, January 25, 2010
Victorino Aldaba, etc.
vs COMELEC

Facts:
May 1, 2009, RA 9591 passed into a law, amending the Malolos Charter by creating a
separate legislative district for the city. The population of Malolos is a contested fact
given that the house bill for this law relied on the undated certification issued by NSO
that the population of Malolos will be 254,030 by year 2010 due its current population
growth rate.
Petitioners, taxpayers and registered residents of Malolos filed this petition contending
that RA 9591 is unconstitutional for failing to meet the minimum population threshold of
250k for a city to merit representation in Congress.
OSG contended that Congress use of projected population is non-justiciable as it
involves a determination on the wisdom of the standard adopted by the legislature to
determine compliance with constitutional requirement.

Ruling:
RA 9591 is unconstitutional. The 1987 Constitution requires that for a city to have a
legislative district, the city must have a population of at least two hundred fifty
thousand.[5] The only issue here is whether the City of Malolos has a population of at
least 250,000, whether actual or projected, for the purpose of creating a legislative
district for the City of Malolos in time for the 10 May 2010 elections. If not, then RA
9591 creating a legislative district in the City of Malolos is unconstitutional.

The Certification of Regional Director Miranda, which is based on demographic

projections, is without legal effect because Regional Director Miranda has no basis and
no authority to issue the Certification. The Certification is also void on its face because
based on its own growth rate assumption, the population of Malolos will be less than
250,000 in the year 2010. In addition, intercensal demographic projections cannot be
made for the entire year. In any event, a city whose population has increased to
250,000 is entitled to have a legislative district only in the immediately following
election after the attainment of the 250,000 population.

The Certification of Regional Director Miranda does not state that the demographic
projections he certified have been declared official by the NSCB. The records of this
case do not also show that the Certification of Regional Director Miranda is based on
demographic projections declared official by the NSCB. The Certification, which states
that the population of Malolos will be 254,030 by the year 2010, violates the
requirement that intercensal demographic projections shall be as of the middle of every
year. In addition, there is no showing that Regional Director Miranda has been
designated by the NSO Administrator as a certifying officer for demographic projections
in Region III. In the absence of such official designation, only the certification of the
NSO Administrator can be given credence by this Court.

Any population projection forming the basis for the creation of a legislative district must
be based on an official and credible source. That is why the OSG cited Executive Order
No. 135, otherwise the population projection would be unreliable or speculative.

Section 3 of the Ordinance appended to the 1987 Constitution provides:

Any province that may be created, or any city whose population may hereafter increase
to more than two hundred fifty thousand shall be entitled in the immediately following
election to at least one Member or such number of members as it may be entitled to on
the basis of the number of its inhabitants and according to the standards set forth in
paragraph (3), Section 5 of Article VI of the Constitution. xxx. (Emphasis supplied)