-Chiongbian (Congressman in South Cotabato) v. Orbos (Executive Secretary)

-Nature: Special Action in the SC for certiorari and prohibition

-Facts: In 1968, RA 5435 was passed, "authorizing the President of the Philippines,

with the help of a Commission on Reorganization (Commission), to reorganize the different executive departments, bureaus, offices, agencies and instrumentalities of the government, including banking or financial institutions and corporations owned or controlled by it."

o The purpose was to promote "simplicity, economy and efficiency in the government."

Commission created under the law was required to submit an integrated reorganization plan to the President who was in turn required to submit the plan to Congress as the law provided that any reorganization plan submitted would become effective only upon the approval of Congress

o Commission prepared an integrated reorganization plan, dividing the country into 11 administrative regions, which was approved in 1972

Congress passed RA 6734, the Organic Act for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), calling for a plebiscite – 13 provinces and 9 cities

o 4 provinces voted for creating ARMM Art. 19, Sec. 13 of RA 6734 states that the provinces and cities that do not

vote for inclusion in the ARMM shall remain in existing administrative regions, provided, however, that the President may merge existing regions

President Aquino passed EO 429, “Providing for the Reorganization of the Administrative Regions in Mindanao”

Petitioners contended the said EO and wrote to Aquino, but the Reorganization went on as planned, which prompted the petitioners to file the case in the SC

-Constitutional Issue (in relation to Legislature): Whether the power to "merge" administrative regions is legislative in

character or whether it is executive in character Whether Art. 19, Sec. 13 of RA 6734 is invalid because it contains no standard

to guide the President's discretion

-Decision: The power to “merge” administrative regions has traditionally been logged

with the President Congress has provided a sufficient standard to guide the President in the

exercise of aforementioned power

-Ratio: As this Court observed in Abbas, "while the power to merge administrative

regions is not expressly provided for in the Constitution, it is a power which

has traditionally been lodged with the President to facilitate the exercise of the power of general supervision over local governments [Sec. 4, Art. 10 of the Constitution]."

Also, there is no abdication by Congress of its legislative power in conferring on the President the power to merge administrative regions

The creation and subsequent reorganization of administrative regions by the President is pursuant to authority granted to her by law

In conferring on the President the power "to merge the existing regions" following the establishment of ARMM, Congress merely followed the pattern set in previous legislation dating back to the initial organization of administrative regions in 1972 (as a result of RA 5345)

The choice of the President as delegate is logical because the division of the country into regions is intended to facilitate not only the administration of local governments but also the direction of executive departments, which the law requires should have regional offices

o The regrouping is only done on paper and for administrative purposes

A legislative standard need not be expressedo It may simply be gathered or impliedo Nor need it be found in the law challenged because it may be

embodied in other statutes on the same subject as that of the challenged legislation

With respect to the power to “merge existing administrative regions”, the standard is to be found in the same policy underlying the grant to the President in RA 5435:

o "To promote simplicity, economy and efficiency in the government to enable it to pursue programs consistent with national goals for accelerated social and economic development and to improve the service in the transaction of the public business."