G.R No.

188078               January 25, 2010

VICTORINO B. ALDABA, CARLO JOLETTE S. FAJARDO, JULIO G. MORADA, and

MINERVA ALDABA MORADA, Petitioners,
vs.
COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS, Respondent.

ISSUE:

WON Republic Act No. 9591 (RA 9591) is unconstitutional by 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.

FACTS:

 The province of Bulacan was represented in Congress through four legislative districts.
The First Legislative District comprised of the city of Malolos1 and the municipalities of
Hagonoy, Calumpit, Pulilan, Bulacan, and Paombong.

 On 1 May 2009, RA 9591 lapsed into law, amending Malolos’ City Charter,2 by creating
a separate legislative district for the city. At the time the legislative bills for RA 9591 were
filed in Congress in 2007, namely, House Bill No. 3162 (later converted to House Bill No.
3693) and Senate Bill No. 1986, 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."

 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.

 Office of the Solicitor General (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 [a constitutional
requirement]."

RULING:

RA 9591 is 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.
  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."  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.

 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."

 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.

 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.

Section 6 of Executive Order No. 1358 dated 6 November 1993 issued by President Fidel V.
Ramos provides:

SECTION 6. Guidelines on the Issuance of Certification of Population sizes Pursuant to Section

7, 386, 442, 450, 452, and 461 of the New Local Government Code.

(a) The National Statistics Office shall issue certification on data that it has collected and
processed as well as on statistics that it has estimated.

(b) For census years, certification on population size will be based on actual population
census counts; while for the intercensal years, the certification will be made on the basis
of a set of demographic projections or estimates declared official by the National
Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB).

(c) Certification of population census counts will be made as of the census reference
date, such as May 1, 1990, while those of intercensal population estimates will be as of
middle of every year.
 (d) Certification of population size based on projections may specify the range within
which the true count is deemed likely to fall. The range will correspond to the official low
and high population projections.

(e) The smallest geographic area for which a certification on population size may be
issued will be the barangay for census population counts, and the city or municipality for
intercensal estimates. If an LGU wants to conduct its own population census, during off–
census years, approval must be sought from the NSCB and the conduct must be under
the technical supervision of NSO from planning to data processing.

(f) Certifications of population size based on published census results shall be issued by
the Provincial Census Officers or by the Regional Census Officers. Certifications based
on projections or estimates, however, will be issued by the NSO Administrator or his
designated certifying officer. (Emphasis supplied)

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.

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.

Also, the 2007 Census places the population of Malolos at 223,069 as of 1 August 2007.9 Based
on a growth rate of 3.78%, the population of Malolos will grow to only 248,365 as of 1 August
2010. Even if the growth rate is compounded yearly, the population of Malolos of 223,069 as of
1 August 2007 will grow to only 249,333 as of 1 August 2010.

All these conflict with what the Certification states that the population of Malolos "will be 254,030
by the year 2010." Based on the Certification’s own growth rate assumption, the population of
Malolos will be less than 250,000 before the 10 May 2010 elections. Incidentally, the NSO has
no published population projections for individual municipalities or cities but only for entire
regions and provinces.

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)

A city that has attained a population of 250,000 is entitled to a legislative district only in the
"immediately following election." In short, a city must first attain the 250,000 population, and
thereafter, in the immediately following election, such city shall have a district representative.
There is no showing in the present case that the City of Malolos has attained or will attain a
population of 250,000, whether actual or projected, before the 10 May 2010 elections.

Clearly, there is no official record that the population of the City of Malolos will be at least
250,000, actual or projected, prior to the 10 May 2010 elections, the immediately following
election after the supposed attainment of such population. Thus, the City of Malolos is not
qualified to have a legislative district of its own under Section 5(3), Article VI of the 1987
Constitution and Section 3 of the Ordinance appended to the 1987 Constitution.