Editing Gerrymandering (section)

===Philippines===
[[Legislative districts of the Philippines|Congressional districts in the Philippines]] were originally based on an ordinance from the 1987 [[Constitution of the Philippines|Constitution]], which was created by the [[Constitutional Commission]], which was ultimately based on legislative districts as they were drawn in 1907. The same constitution gave [[Congress of the Philippines]] the power to legislate new districts, either through a national redistricting bill or piecemeal redistricting per province or city. Congress has never passed a national redistricting bill since the approval of the 1987 constitution, while it has incrementally created 34 new districts, out of the 200 originally created in 1987.

This allows Congress to create new districts once a place reaches 250,000 inhabitants, the minimum required for its creation. With this, local dynasties, through congressmen, can exert influence in the district-making process by creating bills carving new districts from old ones. In time, as the population of the Philippines increases, these districts, or groups of it, will be the basis of carving new provinces out of existing ones.

An example was in [[Camarines Sur]], where two districts were divided into three districts which allegedly favors the Andaya and the Arroyo families; it caused Rolando Andaya and [[Dato Arroyo]], who would have otherwise run against each other, run in separate districts, with one district allegedly not even surpassing the 250,000-population minimum.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.philstar.com/nation/558593/noynoy-hits-creation-camarines-sur-district-dato |title= Noynoy hits creation of Camarines Sur district for Dato |date=18 March 2010 |first=Aurea |last=Calica |work=[[The Philippine Star]] |access-date=30 July 2013}}</ref> The [[Supreme Court of the Philippines|Supreme Court]] later ruled that the 250,000 population minimum does not apply to an additional district in a province.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.philstar.com/headlines/564542/supreme-court-ruling-camsur-clears-senate |title=  Supreme Court ruling on Camsur clears Senate |date=9 April 2010 |first=Christina |last=Mendez |work=[[The Philippine Star]] |access-date=30 July 2013}}</ref> The resulting splits would later be the cause of another gerrymander, where the province would be split into a new province called [[Nueva Camarines]]; the bill was defeated in the Senate in 2013.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/regions/06/08/13/senate-fails-pass-nueva-camarines-measure |title=Senate fails to pass Nueva Camarines measure |date=8 June 2013 |first=Christina |last=Mendez |work=[[The Philippine Star]] |publisher=ABS-CBNnews.com |access-date=30 July 2013}}</ref>