GR 118702; (March, 1995) (Digest)
G.R. No. 118702 March 16, 1995
CIRILO ROY G. MONTEJO, petitioner, vs. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS, respondent. SERGIO A.F. APOSTOL, intervenor.
FACTS
The province of Leyte was composed of five legislative districts. The sub-province of Biliran, located within the Third District, was converted into a regular province in 1992 pursuant to the Local Government Code. This conversion removed eight municipalities from Leyte’s Third District, reducing it to only five municipalities with a population of 145,067. To remedy the resulting inequality in the distribution of inhabitants and voters among the districts, the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) promulgated Resolution No. 2736 on December 29, 1994. This resolution transferred the municipality of Capoocan from the Second District and the municipality of Palompon from the Fourth District to the Third District. Petitioner Cirilo Roy G. Montejo, representing the First District, filed a motion for reconsideration, arguing that the resolution resulted in an inequitable distribution where the First District had 178,688 registered voters and the Second District had 156,462, a difference of 22,226. To diminish this difference, he proposed transferring the municipality of Tolosa from the First District to the Second District. The motion was opposed by intervenor Sergio A.F. Apostol, representing the Second District, and was denied by the COMELEC.
ISSUE
Whether the COMELEC acted within its constitutional authority in promulgating Resolution No. 2736 to adjust legislative districts in Leyte.
RULING
The Supreme Court declared Section 1 of COMELEC Resolution No. 2736 void. The Court held that the COMELEC’s power under the Ordinance appended to the 1987 Constitution is limited to “minor adjustments” of the legislative apportionment made by the Ordinance itself. The transfer of municipalities from one legislative district to another constitutes a reapportionment or redistricting, which is a substantive legislative function. The power to reapportion legislative districts is expressly vested in Congress by Section 5(4), Article VI of the Constitution . The adjustments made by the COMELEC in this case were not “minor” but substantial, as they altered the composition of legislative districts by transferring municipalities. Therefore, the COMELEC acted without jurisdiction. The Court annulled the portion of the resolution transferring the municipalities of Capoocan and Palompon and denied the petitioner’s prayer to transfer the municipality of Tolosa, as the Court itself cannot make a reapportionment.