. From an existing province, Wideland, Congress created a new province, Hundred Isles, consisting of several islands, with an aggregate area of 500 square kilometres. The law creating Hundred Isles was duly approved in a plebiscite called for that purpose. Juan, a taxpayer and a resident of Wideland, assailed the creation of Hundred Isles claiming that it did not comply with the area requirement as set out in the Local Government Code, i.e., an area of at least 2,000 square kilometres. The proponents justified the creation, however, pointing out that the Rules and Regulations Implementing the Local Government Code states that "the land area requirement shall not apply where the proposed province is composed of one (1) or more islands." Accordingly, since the new province consists of several islands, the area requirement need not be satisfied. How tenable is the position of the proponents? 2. On August 15, 2015, Congresswoman Dine Tatalo filed and sponsored House BillvNo. 5432, entitled "An Act Providing for the Apportionment of the Lone District of the City of Pangarap." The bill eventually became a law. R.A. No. 1234. It mandated that the lone legislative district of the City of Pangarap would now consist of two (2) districts. For the 2016 elections, the voters of the City of Pangarap would be classified as belonging to either the first or second district, depending on their place of residence. The constituents of each district would elect their own representative to Congress as well as eight (8) members of the Sangguniang Panglungsod. R.A. No. 1234 apportioned the City's berangays. The COMELEC thereafter promulgated Resolution No. 2170 implementing R.A. No. 1234. Piolo Cruz assails the COMELEC Resolution as unconstitutional. According to him, R.A. No. 1234 cannot be implemented without conducting a plebiscite because the apportionment under the law falls within the meaning of creation, division, merger, abolition or substantial alteration of boundaries of cities under Section 10, Article X of the 1987 Constitution. Is the claim correct? 3. The Provincial Governor of Bataan requested the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to release its Internal Revenue Allocation (IRA) of P100 million for the current budget year. However, the General Appropriations Act provided that the IRA may be released only if the province meets certain conditions as determined by an Oversight Council created by the President. Is this requirement valid? 4. Typhoon Bangis devastated the Province of Sinagtale. Roads and bridges were destroyed which impeded the entry of vehicles into the area. This caused food shortage resulting in massive looting of grocery stores and malls. There is power outage also in the area. For these reasons, the governor of the province declares a state of emergency in
