The implementation of the residency requirement for candidates might prove to be one of the more interesting and controversial aspects of the May 2019 elections.
Section 39 of the Local Government Code of 1991 requires a candidate for a local elective post to be a registered voter in the barangay, municipality, city, province, or district where he intends to be elected, and that the candidate should be a resident in the locality for at least one year immediately before the election.
The purpose of the residency requirement is to ensure that the person elected is familiar with the needs and problems of his or her constituency.
The 2019 set of candidates faces fresh scrutiny regarding their residencies.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) had been asked through petitions to disqualify former Senator and former Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter S. Cayetano and his wife, Taguig City Mayor Lani L. Cayetano based on their residency qualifications.
Alan Peter is running as representative of Taguig’s first district, while his wife is running in the city’s second district.
In a Philippine News Agency report, petitioner and Taguig resident Leonides Buac Jr. said the couple should be disqualified from running since they cannot claim living in separate residences as indicated on their respective Certificates of Candidacy (COCs), which is not in accordance with Article 69 of the Family Code.
Buac noted that the law mandates them to fix one matrimonial domicile or residence, as well as obliges them to live there together.
“In his COC, Alan Peter Cayetano claimed that he is a resident of Barangay Bagumbayan in the First District, while Lani Cayetano claimed that she resides in Barangay Fort Bonifacio in the Second District,” lawyer Emil Marañon III, the petitioner’s counsel, said in a statement. “Following this rule, the spouses cannot keep separate domiciles, or for one spouse to claim a separate and independent domicile from the matrimonial domicile. Thus, Alan cannot claim domicile in Barangay Bagumbayan, while his wife, Lani Cayetano, in Barangay Fort Bonifacio. In other words, they cannot run in two different districts or jurisdictions at the same time.”
Another petition in the Comelec questioned the congressional bid in Antique province of Sen. Loren B. Legarda. It was filed by her political rival, the province’s former Gov. Exequiel B. Javier, who described Legarda as a “stranger who came out of nowhere.”
In his petition, Javier said it was “common knowledge” that Legarda “has never been a resident” of Antique. He said Legarda’s candidacy was an attempt “to disregard the people of Antique’s right to elect only those who can best serve the community because of their knowledge and sensitivity to their needs, because he or she is one of them and came from them.”
Legarda countered by telling the Comelec that she had moved her residence from Malabon City to Barangay Mag-aba in Pandan town in Antique in January 1, 2018, making her a resident of the Visayan province for one year and four months by election day in May.
On February 6, the Comelec dismissed the petition and allowed Legarda to run as Antique congressman.
It held a hearing on petitions to cancel the congressional candidacies of the Cayetano couple on February 4, but there was no word yet regarding its outcome.
Of course, there have been other “residency cases” in the past.
Richard Gomez, before he became Ormoc City mayor, was once disqualified by the Comelec from his bid to become a congressman in the fourth district of Leyte, citing his failure to establish residency in Ormoc. His wife, Lucy Torres, replaced him as candidate and won.
Before Manny Pacquiao became senator, he was a congressman in Sarangani province. Yet, it is well-known that he hails from General Santos. It’s his wife Jinkee who is a native of Sarangani. In fact, in 2007, Pacquiao contested the House seat for the first district of South Cotabato and lost to the incumbent then, Darlene Custodio. Yet, unlike Gomez, Pacquiao’s residency in his wife’s home province was never contested.
Sometimes these residency tiffs become tedious and are elevated to the Supreme Court, like the 2010 battle for the governorship of Palawan between Abraham Mitra and Jose Alvarez, now the incumbent governor.
It will make things a lot simpler if candidates just follow the decision of the Comelec, which should be the judge, jury and final arbiter in all matters related to the elections. This is the poll body’s constitutional mandate, after all, and it should be allowed to do its job properly.
Image credits: jimbo Albano