Friday, July 18, 2008 Creation of Shariff Kabunsuan province voided
THE Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday nullified the creation of the province of Shariff Kabunsuan by an act of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm) regional assembly, saying such power is lodged with Congress.
In a decision penned by Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, the SC en banc declared unconstitutional Section 19, Article VI of Republic Act (RA) 9054 creating the Armm insofar as it grants to the regional assembly of Armm the power to create provinces and cities.
The high court, in effect, declared valid the Commission on Elections' (Comelec) Resolution 7902 preserving the geographic and legislative district of the first district of Maguindanao with Cotabato City.
"The Armm regional assembly cannot create a province without a legislative district because the Constitution mandates that every province shall have a legislative district," the decision said.
"Moreover, the Armm regional assembly cannot enact a law creating a national office like the office of a district representative of Congress because the legislative powers of the Armm regional assembly operate only within its territorial jurisdiction," it added.
Concurring in the decision were Chief Justice Reynato Puno and Associate Justices Leonardo Quisumbing, Ma. Alicia Austria-Martinez, Renato Corona, Conchita Carpio-Morales, Antonio Eduardo Nachura and Ruben Reyes.
Dissenting were Associate Justices Dante Tinga, Consuelo Ynares-Santiago, Adolfo Azcuna, Minita Chico-Nazario, Teresita Leonardo-de Castro and Arturo Brion. Justice Presbiterio Velasco Jr. did not take part in the voting.
In the ruling, the SC likewise affirmed the contention of respondent Representative Didagen Dilangalen that since the province of Shariff Kabunsuan wherein he was elected congressman had already been dissolved, then he shall retain his post as congressman of the first district of Maguindanao.
The court said the petition filed by Bai Sandra Sema, a candidate for Congress in the May 14, 2007 elections, asking the court to nullify Comelec Resolution 7902, is without merit.
Sema also prayed that the votes cast in Cotabato City be excluded from canvassing, contending that Shariff Kabunsuan is entitled to one representative in Congress under Article VI of the Constitution.
Court records showed that on August 28, 2006, the Armm regional assembly, exercising its powers to create provinces under Section 19, Article VI of RA 9054 enacted Muslim Mindanao Authority Act No. 201 (MMA Act 201) creating the province of Shariff Kabunsuan composed of the eight municipalities in the first district of Maguindanao (Barira, Buldon, Satu Odin Sinsuat, Kabuntalan, Matanog, Parang, Sultan Kudarat, Sultan Mastura and Upi).
Later, three new municipalities were carved out of the original nine municipalities comprising the new province, bringing to 11 the total number of municipalities.
As such, what left to Maguindanao were the municipalities constituting its second legislative district.
Cotabato City, although part of Maguindanao's first legislative district, is not part of Maguindanao.
On October 29, 2006, the voters of Maguindanao ratified the creation of the province of Shariff Kabunsuan in a plebiscite.
On February 6, 2007, the Cotabato City Council passed Resolution No. 3999 requesting the Comelec to clarify the status of Cotabato City in view of the conversion of Maguindanao's first district into a regular province.
In response, the Comelec issued Resolution 07-0407 on March 6, 2007 which maintained the status quo with Cotabato City as part of Shariff Kabunsuan in the first legislative district of Maguindanao.
But on March 29, 2007, the Comelec, in preparation for the May 14, 2007 elections, promulgated Resolution No. 7845 which stated that Maguindanao's first legislative district is only composed of Cotabato City because of the enactment of MMA Act 201.
The Comelec, on May 10, 2007, then issued Resolution No. 7902, which amended Resolution No. 07-0407 by renaming the legislative district as "Shariff Kabunsuan Province with Cotabato City (formerly first district of Maguindanao with Cotabato City).
In its comment, the Office of the Solicitor General argued that the writ of prohibition prayed for by Sema became moot with the proclamation of Dilangalen on June 1, 2007 as representative of legislative district of Shariff Kabunsuan province with Cotabato City.
For her part, Sema argued that the Comelec acted in its jurisdiction in issuing Resolution 7902 which maintained the status quo in Maguindanao's first legislative district.
She added that in issuing Resolution 7902, the election body usurped Congress' power to create of reapportion legislative districts.
But Dilangalen said Comelec Resolution No. 7902 is constitutional as it did not apportion a legislative district for Shariff Kabunsuan but merely renamed Maguindanao's first legislative district. (ECV/Sunnex)
