The Controversial Province of Dinagat

SURIGAO DEL NORTE

Background

In 2006, less than a year before the 2007 election, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed into law Republic Act 9355, creating the new province of Dinagat Island to comprise the entire Dinagat Island. It is composed of four 4th class and three 5th class districts. It is one of the two provinces that the Arroyo administration as, according to a Newsbreak report, to her political allies in the island--the Ecleos.

The new law expressly stated that the Province "contains an approximate land area of 80,212 has or 802.12 sq. kms, R.A. No. 9355, therefore, failed to comply with the land area requirement of 2,000 sq. kilometers."

From these facts, the Supreme Court (SC) ruled in February 2010 that the creation of the Province of Dinagat Island was unconstitutional because it failed to comply with the requirements of the Local Government Code, Section 461, which states demands that a province may only be created when it has an average annual income of not less than P20 million and a population of 250,000 or a contiguous territory of 2,000 square meters.

Based on the 2000 Census of Population from the National Statistics Office available at that time, Dinagat Island had only 106,951 inhabitants. Even by 2007, it had only a population of 120,812.

Associate Justice Diosdado Peralta penned the 2010 SC decision.

Later on, the Office of the Solicitor General and Dinagat Island Governor Geraldine Ecleo Villaroman separately filed a motion for consideration, which SC denied, affirming its decision on the case with finality.

SC Flip-flapped Anew

On 29 March 2011 (Tuesday), the present SC issued a ruling reversing the 2010 SC decision. This time Associate Justice Antonio Eduardo Nachura penned the decision. According to Newsbreak, "It is unclear why the SC reopened the case."

Source

____: "Ecleos of Dinagat win in new SC flip-flop," Newsbreak 29 March 2011