The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday upheld the constitutionality of a law creating another congressional district in Camarines Sur that would supposedly benefit a son and a close ally of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez said the High Court, which is holding its summer session in Baguio City, voted 9-5 to declare as valid Republic Act (RA) 9716 entitled “An Act Reapportioning the Composition of the First and Second Legislative Districts in the Province of Camarines Sur and Thereby Creating a New Legislative District from Such Reapportionment.”

RA 9716 created the province’s fifth district out of the towns from the current first and second districts, which will elect its first representative starting in the May 10, 2010 elections.

The constitutionality of the law was questioned in a petition filed by Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III and Naga City Mayor Jesse Robredo last year.

Aquino and Robredo had asked the SC to declare the law unconstitutional for failing to meet the 250, 000 population requirement as outlined in the Constitution, particularly Article VI, Section 5, Paragraph 3.

They argued that the law resulted in the creation of a district with a population of 176,383, which is below the minimum population requirement of 250,000 per congressional district.

But Marquez said the SC, in a decision penned by Associate Justice Jose P. Perez, ruled that 250,000 population threshold “does not apply to provinces but only to cities.”

“Plainly stated, Article VI, Section 5(3) of the Constitution requires a 250,000 minimum population only for a city to be entitled to a representative, but not so for a province,” Marquez said in a phone patch interview with reporters.

Associate Justices Renato C. Corona, Presbitero J. Velasco Jr., Antonio Eduardo B. Nachura, Teresita Leonardo de Castro, Diosdado M. Peralta, Lucas P. Bersamin, Mariano J. Del Castillo and Jose C. Mendoza concurred with the decision.

Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno and Associate Justices Antonio T. Carpio, Conchita Carpio Morales, Arturo D. Brion and Martin S. Villarama Jr. dissented, while Associate Justice Roberto A. Abad was on leave.

Marquez said that in the dissenting opinion penned by Justice Carpio, the minority opined that the 250,000 requirement “serves as the default minimum population applicable to every legislative district following the rule on uniformity in the apportionment of legislative districts, whether in provinces, cities or in the Metropolitan Manila area.”

The passage of RA 9716 has been seen as a form of accommodation for the President’s son, Rep. Diosdado “Dato” Arroyo, who represents the first district of Camarines Sur.

This, as former Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr., the former congressman of the first district is seeking to reclaim his seat.

Under RA 9716, the municipalities of Libmanan, Pamplona, Pasacao and San Fernando of the first district were grouped with the towns of Gainza and Milaor from the second district to form a new district to be called the second district.

The remaining towns of the former first district will become the new first legislative district of the province while the former second district will be renamed as the third legislative district. The former third and fourth district will be called as the new fourth and fifth legislative districts, respectively.