It's final: No Malolos district

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court (SC) yesterday affirmed its earlier ruling nullifying a law that created a congressional district for Malolos City in Bulacan.

The SC junked the appeal filed by taxpayers and residents of the city of its ruling last January that declared unconstitutional Republic Act 9591, which was passed on May 1 last year assigning a separate legislative district for Malolos City.

In its earlier ruling, the SC voted 7–6 to rule that RA 9591 violated Article VI, Section 5 (3) of the Constitution and Section 3 of the Ordinance attached to the Charter, which both provide for a minimum population requirement of 250,000 for a city to have its own representative in Congress.

In an 11-page decision penned by Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, the SC said the petitioners failed to show through official records that Malolos’ population would be at least 250,000 in time for the May 10 polls. – Edu Punay