ALDABA VS.

COMELEC
Facts
Petitioner Aldaba et. al filed a petition against the enactment of RA 9591 which
creates a legislative district for the city of Malolos, Bulacan. At the time the
legislative bills for RA 9591 were filed in Congress in 2007, 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 questioned law 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 contends 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 Sec 5(3),
Art. VI of the 1987 Constitution.
Issue
Whether or not RA 9591 is unconstitutional on the grounds that it violates the Art. VI
sec. 5(3) of 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 as stated in the
Art. VI sec.5(3). The Certification of Regional Director, which is based on
demographic projections, is without legal effect because the latter has no basis and
no authority to issue the Certification. 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"7 after the attainment of the 250,000 population.