SEMA V. COMELEC

Facts:

ARMM was created under RA 6734 amended by RA9054. Province of Maguindanao is part of ARMM.Cotabato City on the other hand voted against its inclusion in ARMM during a plebiscite in November 1989.August 28, 2006: ARMM legislature (ARMM Regional Assembly) exercised its power to create provinces under Sec. 19, Art. 6 of RA 9054 by enacting Muslim Mindanao Autonomy Act 221 creating the province Shariff Kabunsuan composed of 8 municipalities in the 1st district of Maguindanao. The voters of Maguindanao ratified Shariff Kabunsuan's creation in a plebiscite held on October 2006.

May 10, 2007: COMELEC issued Resolution 7902 renaming legislative district as Shariff Kabunsuan province with Cotabato City.

Sema who was a candidate in May 2007 elections for Representative of “Shariff Kabunsuan with Cotabato City” prayed for the nullification of resolution and exclusion from canvassing of votes in cast in Cotabato City for that office. Sema contended that Shariff Kabunsuan is entitled to 1 representative in Congress.

Issue:

Whether or not Sec. 19, Art.6 of RA 9054 delegating to ARMM Regional Assembly the power to createprovinces, cities, municipalities and barangays is constitutional

Held:

New legislative districts may be created only by law. Congress cannot validly delegate to ARMM Regional Assembly the power to create legislative districts.

The creation of LGUs is governed by Sec. 10, Art. 10 of the Constitution:“No province, city, municipality, barangay may be created, divided, merged or altered except in accordance with the criteria in Local Government Code..”

The creation of any local government units must comply with the 3 conditions:1. creation of LGU must follow the criteria as fixed in Local Government Code2. Such creation must not conflict w/ any provision of the Constitution3. There must be a plebiscite

Note that in order to create a city there must be at least a population of 250, 000 and that a province, once created, should have at least 1 representative in House of Representatives. Further, in order to have a legislative district, there must be at least 250, 000 population in said district. In the present case, Cotabato City did not meet the population requirement so Sema's contention is untenable.

On the other hand, ARMM cannot validly create the province of Shariff Kabunsuan without first creating a legislative district however such creation is not legally possible because creation of legislative district is solely vested in Congress. At most, what ARMM can create are barangays not cities and provinces.

Therefore, Sec. 19, Art. 6 of RA 9054 is unconstitutional.