PLOPINIO, Hannah Georgia F.

2015-90500

Case #054
CAWALING v. COMELEC
October 26, 2001
Sandoval-Guttierez, J.

Summary:
Cawaling is assailing the validity of the plebiscite conducted to ratify the creation of the City of Sorsogon
under Republic Act No. 8806, stating that the mode of creation of the city was invalid for not being in
consonance with the criteria provided under Sec. 450 of the Local Government Code. The Supreme Court
ruled that Section 10, Article X of the Constitution allows the merger of local government units to create a
province, city, municipality or barangay in accordance with the criteria established by the Code. Verily, the
creation of an entirely new local government unit through a division or a merger of existing local government
units is recognized under the Constitution, provided that such merger or division shall comply with the
requirements prescribed by the Code.

Case #055
MUNICIPALITY OF KANANGA v. MADRONA
November 20, 1956
Reyes, J.

Summary:
Petitioner municipality is questioning the jurisdiction of the Regional Trial Court over the boundary dispute
between the Municipality of Kananga and the City of Ormoc. The Supre Court ruled that RTCs have general
jurisdiction to adjudicate all controversies except those expressly withheld from their plenary powers. They
have the power not only to take judicial cognizance of a case instituted for judicial action for the first time,
but also to do so to the exclusion of all other courts at that stage. Indeed, the power is not only original, but
also exclusive. Since there is no legal provision specifically governing jurisdiction over boundary disputes
between a municipality and an independent component city, it foll ows that regional trial courts have the
power and the authority to hear and determine such controversy.

Case #056
SEMA v. COMELEC
July 16, 2008
Carpio, J.

Summary:
In 1959, the President issued E.O. No. 353, which created the municipal district of San Andres Quezon, by
segregating some barrios from the municipality of San Narciso. In 1989, the municipality of the San Narciiso
filed a petition for quo warranto against the officials of San Andres, and sought the nullification of E.O. No.
353, and praying that he local officials of San Andres be permanently ordered to refrain from performing
their duties. The Supreme Court ruled while E.O. No. 353 was void for being an unconstitutional delegation
of legislative power, peculiar circumstances in this case evidences that San Andres has attained a status of a de
facto municipal corporation. San Andres had been in existence for more than 6 years when Pelaez v. Auditor
General was promulgated. The ruling could have sounded the call for a similar declaration of the
unconstitutionality of E.O. 353. Curative laws, which in essence are retrospective, and aimed at giving
"validity to acts done that would have been invalid under existing laws, as if existing laws have been complied
with," are validly accepted in this jurisdiction, subject to the usual qualification against impairment of vested
rights.
PLOPINIO, Hannah Georgia F.
2015-90500

Case #057
ALDABA v. COMELEC
January 25, 2010
Carpio, J.

Summary:
Petitioners, taxpayers, registered voters and residents of Malolos City, filed this petition contending that 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. The Court held that RA 9591 is unconstitutional on the
grounds that the city did not meet the 250,000 population requirement. The Certification issued by Regional
Director Miranda, 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 Section 6 of EO 135,
which states that demographic projections can be issued only if such are declared official by the Nat’l
Statistics Coordination Board.

Case #058
AQUINO v. COMELEC
April 7, 2010
Perez, J.

Summary:
Petitioners Jesse Robredo, the Mayor of Naga City, and Senator Aquino III, contend that the
reapportionment introduced by Republic Act No. 9716 is unconstitutional for violating the population
requirement of the legislative districts as provided in Art. VI, Sec. 5, Par. 1 and 3 of the Constitution and Sec.
3 of the Ordinance. The Supreme Court however held that the use of a comma to separate the phrase "each
city with a population of at least two hundred fifty thousand" from the phrase "or each province" means that
the 250,000 minimum population is only required for a city, but not for a province. Thus, a population of
250,000 is not an indispensable requirement for the creation of a new legislative district in a province.

Case #059
NAVARRO v. ERMITA
April 12, 2011
Nachura, J.

Summary:
Petitioners filed a petition before the SC calling for the declaration of R.A. No. 9355 as unconstitutional on
the ground that the creation of the Province of Dinagat Islands failed to comply with the requirements on
population and land area under the Local Government Code. The Supreme Court in its final decision ruled
that the central policy considerations in the creation of local government units are economic viability,
efficient administration, and capability to deliver basic services to their constituents. The criteria prescribed by
the LGC, i.e., income, population and land area, are all designed to accomplish these results. In this light,
Congress, in its collective wisdom, has debated on the relative weight of each of these three criteria, placing
emphasis on which of them should enjoy preferential consideration. Granted, the primordial criterion in the
creation of local government units, particularly of a province, is economic viability. Consistent with the
declared policy to provide local government units genuine and meaningful local autonomy, contiguity and
PLOPINIO, Hannah Georgia F.
2015-90500

minimum land area requirements for prospective local government units should be liberally construed in
order to achieve the desired results.