Navarro v. Executive Secretary (G.R. No.

180050; May 12, 2010) 20/10/2017, 5)55 AM

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Navarro v. Executive Secretary

(G.R. No. 180050; May 12,
2010)

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CASE DIGEST: RODOLFO G. NAVARRO, et al. v. EXECUTIVE SECRETARY EDUARDO

ERMITA, et al.

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Navarro v. Executive Secretary (G.R. No. 180050; May 12, 2010) 20/10/2017, 5)55 AM

FACTS:

Before us are two Motions for Reconsideration of the Decision dated February 10,
2010 one <led by the O?ce of the Solicitor General (OSG) in behalf of public
respondents, and the other <led by respondent Governor Geraldine Ecleo Villaroman,
representing the Province of Dinagat Islands.

The arguments of the movants are similar. The grounds for reconsideration of
Governor Villaroman can be subsumed under the grounds for reconsideration of the
OSG, which are as follows:

I. The Province of Dinagat Islands was created in accordance with the provisions of
the 1987 Constitution and the Local Government Code of 1991. Article 9 of the
Implementing Rules and Regulations is merely interpretative of Section 461 of the
Local Government Code.

II. The power to create a local government unit is vested with the Legislature.The acts
of the Legislature and Executive in enacting into law RA 9355 should be respected as
petitioners failed to overcome the presumption of validity or constitutionality.

III. Recent and prevailing jurisprudence considers the operative fact doctrine as a
reason for upholding the validity and constitutionality of laws involving the creation of
a new local government unit as in the instant case.

As regards the <rst ground, the movantsreiterate the same arguments in their
respective Comments that aside from the undisputed compliance with the income
requirement, Republic Act (R.A.) No. 9355, creating the Province ofDinagat
Islands,has also complied with the population and land area requirements.

The arguments are unmeritorious and have already been passed upon by the Court in
its Decision, ruling that R.A. No. 9355 is unconstitutional, since it failed to comply with
either the territorial or population requirement contained in Section 461 of R.A. No.
7160, otherwise known as theLocal Government Code of 1991.

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When the Dinagat Islands was proclaimed a new province onDecember 3,2006, it had
an o?cial population of only 106,951based on the2000 Census ofPopulation
conducted by the National Statistics O?ce (NSO), which population is short of the
statutory requirement of 250,000 inhabitants.

Although the Provincial Government of Surigao del Norte conducted a special census
of population inDinagatIslandsin 2003, which yielded a population count of 371,000,
the result was not certi<ed by the NSO as required by the Local Government Code.
Moreover, respondents failed to prove that with the population count of 371,000, the
population of the original unit (motherProvinceofSurigao del Norte) would not be
reduced to less than the minimum requirement prescribed by law at the time of the
creation of the new province.

Less than a year after the proclamation of the new province, the NSO conducted
the2007Census of Population. The NSO certi<ed that as ofAugust 1,
2007,DinagatIslandshad a total population of only120,813,which wasstill below
theminimum requirement of 250,000 inhabitants.

Based on the foregoing, R.A. No. 9355 failed to comply with the population
requirement of 250,000 inhabitants as certi<ed by the NSO.

Moreover, the land area of the province failed to comply with the statutory
requirement of2,000 square kilometers.R.A. No. 9355 speci<cally states that the
Province of Dinagat Islands contains an approximate land area of802.12 square
kilometers. This was not disputed by the respondent Governor of the Province of
Dinagat Islands in her Comment.She and the other respondents instead asserted that
the province, which is composed of more than one island, is exempted from theland
area requirementbased on the provision in the Rules and Regulations Implementing
the Local Government Code of 1991 (IRR), speci<cally paragraph 2 of Article 9which
states that [t]he land area requirement shall not apply where the proposed province is
composed of one (1) or more islands.The certi<cate of compliance issued by the
LandsManagement Bureau was also based on the exemption under paragraph 2,
Article 9 of the IRR.

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However, the Court held thatparagraph 2 of Article 9 of the IRRis null and void,
because the exemption is not found in Section 461 of the Local Government Code.
There is no dispute that in case of discrepancy between the basic law and the rules
and regulations implementing the said law, the basic law prevails, because the rules
and regulations cannot go beyond the terms and provisions of the basic law.

The movants now argue that the correct interpretation of Section 461 of the Local
Government Code is the one stated in the Dissenting Opinion ofAssociate Justice
Antonio Eduardo B. Nachura.

In his Dissenting Opinion, Justice Nachura agrees that R.A. No. 9355 failed to comply
with the population requirement.However, he contends that the Province ofDinagat
Islands did not fail to comply with the territorial requirementbecause it is composed
ofa group of islands; hence, it is exempt from compliance not only with the territorial
contiguity requirement, but also with the 2,000-square-kilometer land area criterion
inSection 461 of the Local Government Code.

He argues that the whole paragraph on contiguity and land area in paragraph (a) (i)
above is the one being referred to in the exemption from the territorial requirement in
paragraph (b). Thus, he contends that if the province to be created is composed of
islands, like the one in this case, then, its territory need not be contiguous and need
not have an area of at least 2,000 square kilometers. He asserts that this is because
as the law is worded, contiguity and land area are not two distinct and separate
requirements, but they qualify each other. An exemption from one of the two
component requirements in paragraph (a) (i) allegedly necessitates an exemption
from the other component requirement, because the non-attendance of one results in
the absence of a reason for the other component requirement to effect a
quali<cation.

ISSUE: Is the correct interpretation of Section 461 of the Local Government Code the
one stated in the Dissenting Opinion of Associate Justice Antonio Eduardo B.
Nachura?

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Navarro v. Executive Secretary (G.R. No. 180050; May 12, 2010) 20/10/2017, 5)55 AM

HELD:

Section 7, Chapter 2 (entitled General Powers and Attributes of Local Government

Units) of the Local Government Code provides:

SEC. 7.Creation and Conversion. As a general rule, the creation of a local government
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unit or its conversion from one level to another levelshall be based
onveri<ableindicatorsof viability and projected capacity to provide services,to wit:

(a)Income. It must be su?cient, based on acceptable standards, to provide for all

essential government facilities and services and special functions commensurate
with the size of its population, as expected of the local government unit concerned;

(b)Population. It shall be determined as the total number of inhabitants within the

territorial jurisdiction of the local government unit concerned; and

(c)Land area. It must be contiguous, unless it comprises two (2) or more islands, or is
separated by a local government unit independent of the others; properly identi<ed by
metes and bounds with technical descriptions;andsu?cient to provide for such basic
services and facilities to meet the requirements of its populace.

Compliance with the foregoing indicators shall be attested to by the Department of

Finance (DOF), the National Statistics O?ce (NSO), and the Lands Management
Bureau (LMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

***

Itmust be emphasized that Section 7 above, which provides for the

generalruleinthecreation of a local government unit, states in paragraph (c)thereof
that the land area must be contiguousandsu?cient to provide for such basic services
and facilities to meet the requirements of its populace.

Therefore, there are two requirements for land area:(1) the land area must be
contiguous; and (2) the land area must be su?cient to provide for such basic services

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Navarro v. Executive Secretary (G.R. No. 180050; May 12, 2010) 20/10/2017, 5)55 AM

and facilities to meet the requirements of its populace.A su?cient land area in the
creation of a province is at least 2,000 square kilometers, as provided by Section 461
of the Local Government Code .

Thus, Section 461 of the Local Government Code, providing the requisites for the
creation of a province, speci<cally states the requirement of acontiguousterritoryofat
leasttwo thousand (2,000) square kilometers.

Hence, contrary to the arguments of both movants, the requirement of a contiguous

territory and the requirement of a land area of at least 2,000square kilometers
aredistinctand separate requirements for landarea under paragraph (a) (i) of Section
461 and Section 7 (c) of the Local Government Code.

***

However, paragraph (b) of Section 461 provides two instances of exemption from the
requirement of territorial contiguity, thus:

(b)The territoryneed not be contiguousif it comprises two(2)or more islands,or is

separated byachartered city or cities which do not contribute to the incomeofthe
province.

Contrary to the contention of the movants, the exemption above pertains only to the
requirement of territorial contiguity.It clearly states that the requirement of territorial
contiguity may be dispensed with in the case of a province comprisingtwo or more
islands, or is separated by a chartered city or cities which do not contribute to the
income of the province.

Nowhere in paragraph (b) is it expressly stated or may it be implied that when a

province is composed of two or more islands, or when theterritory of a province is
separated by a chartered city or cities, such province need not comply with the land
area requirement of at least 2,000 square kilometers or the requirement in paragraph
(a) (i) of Section 461of the Local Government Code.

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Where the law is free from ambiguity, the court may not introduce exceptions or
conditions where none is provided from considerations of convenience, public
welfare, or for any laudable purpose; neither may it engraft into the law quali<cations
not contemplated, nor construe its provisions by taking into account questions of
expediency, good faith, practical utility and other similar reasons so as to relax non-
compliance therewith. Where the law speaks in clear and categorical language, there
is no room for interpretation, but only for application.

Moreover, the OSG contends that since the power to create a local government unit is
vested with the Legislature, the acts of the Legislature and the Executive branch in
enacting into law R.A. No. 9355 should be respected as petitioners failed to overcome
the presumption of validity or constitutionality.

The contention lacks merit.

Section 10, Article X of the Constitution States:

SEC. 10.No province, city, municipality, orbarangaymay becreated, divided, merged,

abolished, or its boundary substantially altered, exceptin accordance with the criteria
established in the local government codeand subject to approval by a majority of the
votes cast in a plebiscite in the political units directly affected.

As the law-making branch of the government, indeed, it was the Legislature that
imposed the criteria for the creation of a province as contained in Section 461 of the
Local Government Code.No law has yet been passed amending Section 461 of the
Local Government Code, so only the criteria stated therein are the bases for the
creation of a province.The Constitution clearly mandates that the criteria in the Local
Government Code must be followed in the creation of a province; hence, any
derogation of or deviation from the criteria prescribed in the Local Government Code
violates Section 10, Article X of the Constitution.

Contrary to the contention of the movants, the evidence on record proved that R.A.
No. 9355 failed to comply with either the population or territorial requirements
prescribed in Section 461 of the Local Government Code for the creation of the

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Navarro v. Executive Secretary (G.R. No. 180050; May 12, 2010) 20/10/2017, 5)55 AM

Province of Dinagat Islands; hence, the Court declared R.A. No. 9355 unconstitutional.

DENIED.

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