Navarro vs Ermita 612 SCRA 131

Requirements in Order to Create a Province: (P.I.L.A)

1. Population – to be certified by the Chief of the Philippine Statistics Authority or the NSO.
2. Income -to be certified by the Secretary of the Department of Finance
3. Land Area – to be certified by the Land Management Bureau, DENR

For consideration of the Court is the Urgent Motion to Recall Entry of Judgment dated October
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20, 2010 filed by Movant-Intervenors dated and filed on October 29, 2010, praying that the
Court (a) recall the entry of judgment, and (b) resolve their motion for reconsideration of the July
20, 2010 Resolution.

Facts: On October 2, 2006, the President of the Republic approved into law Republic Act (R.A.)
No. 9355 (An Act Creating the Province of Dinagat Islands).
On December 3, 2006, the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) conducted the mandatory
plebiscite for the ratification of the creation of the province under the Local Government Code
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(LGC). The plebiscite yielded 69,943 affirmative votes and 63,502 negative votes. With the
approval of the people from both the mother province of Surigao del.
On November 10, 2006, petitioners Rodolfo G. Navarro, Victor F. Bernal and Rene O. Medina,
former political leaders of Surigao del Norte, filed before this Court a petition for certiorari and
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prohibition (G.R. No. 175158) challenging the constitutionality of R.A. No. 9355. The Court
dismissed the petition on technical grounds. Their motion for reconsideration was also denied.
Undaunted, petitioners, as taxpayers and residents of the Province of Surigao del Norte, filed
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another petition for certiorari seeking to nullify R.A. No. 9355 for being unconstitutional. They
alleged that the creation of Dinagat as a new province, if uncorrected, would perpetuate an illegal
act of Congress, and would unjustly deprive the people of Surigao del Norte of a large chunk of
the provincial territory, Internal Revenue Allocation (IRA), and rich resources from the area.
They pointed out that when the law was passed, Dinagat had a land area of 802.12 square
kilometers only and a population of only 106,951, failing to comply with Section 10, Article X
of the Constitution and of Section 461 of the LGC, on both counts.
On May 12, 2010 Resolution, movants-intervenors raised three (3) main arguments to challenge
the above Resolution, namely: (1) that the passage of R.A. No. 9355 operates as an act of
Congress amending Section 461 of the LGC; (2) that the exemption from territorial contiguity,
when the intended province consists of two or more islands, includes the exemption from the
application of the minimum land area requirement; and (3) that the Operative Fact Doctrine is
applicable in the instant case.

In the Resolution dated July 20, 2010, the Court denied the Motion for Leave to Intervene and to
File and to Admit Intervenors’ Motion for Reconsideration of the Resolution dated May 12, 2010
on the ground that the allowance or disallowance of a motion to intervene is addressed to the
sound discretion of the Court, and that the appropriate time to file the said motion was before and
not after the resolution of this case.

On September 7, 2010, movants-intervenors filed a Motion for Reconsideration of the July 20,
2010 Resolution, citing several rulings of the Court, allowing intervention as an exception to
Section 2, Rule 19 of the Rules of Court that it should be filed at any time before the rendition of

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 judgment. They alleged that, prior to the May 10, 2010 elections, their legal interest in this case
was not yet existent. They averred that prior to the May 10, 2010 elections, they were unaware of
the proceedings in this case.
On October 5, 2010, the Court issued an order for Entry of Judgment, stating that the decision in
this case had become final and executory on May 18, 2010.
Issue: Whether or not provision in Article 9(2) of the Rules and regulations Implementing the
local Government code of 1991 valid.

Held: the act of congress, recognizing the capacity and viability of Dinagat to become full-
fledged province, enacted R.A 9355, following the exemption from land area requiremens, which
can be found in an express provision in the LGC-IRR. In effect, pursuant its legislative powers,
congress took the exemption in Article 9(2) of the LGC-IRR and transformed into law when
enacted R.A 9355 creating province of Dinagat.

The land area, while is indicator of viability of a local government unit, is not showing that
Dinagat cannot become a province, taking into account its average annual income of
82,696,433.23 at the time of its creation. As certified by bureau local Local government Finance.
Which is more than the required of 20,000,000.00 for the creation of province.

https://cdn.fbsbx.com/v/t59.2708-21/64877354_90403938663…h=13df368ce46d8603218237d7e69b8b6b&oe=5D3A3D3F&dl=1 23/07/2019, 20G31

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