DIGEST
IMELDA ROMUALDEZ-MARCOS,
plaintiff vs. COMMISSION OF
ELECTIONS, defendant
248 SCRA 300
Facts:
March 23,1995, Cirilo Roy Montejo, filed a
petition for cancellation
and disqualification with the COMELEC
alleging that Imelda-Romualdez Marcos did not
meet the constitutional requirement for
residency. March 29, 1995, Marcos filed a
corrected certificate of candidacy changing the
entry “seven” months to “since childhood”. The
COMELEC en banc denied petitioner’s motion
for reconsideration declaring her not qualified
to run for the position of the member of the
House of Representatives for the First District
of Leyte. In a supplemental petition, Marcos
averred that she was the overwhelming winner
of the election.
Issue:
Whether or not petitioner was a resident, for
election purposes, of the First District of Leyte
for a period of one year at the time of the May 9,
1995 elections.
Held:
Residence is synonymous with domicile which
reveals a tendency or mistake
the concept of domicile for actual residence, a
conception not intended for the purpose of
determining a candidate’s qualifications for the
election to the House of Representatives as
required by the 1987 Constitution. An
individual does not lose his domicile even if he
has lived and maintained residences in different
places. In the case at bench, the evidence
adduced by Motejo lacks the degree of
persuasiveness as required to convince the court
that an abandonment of domicile of origin in
favor of a domicile of choice indeed incurred. It
cannot be correctly argued that Marcos lost
her domicile of origin by operation of law as a
result of her marriage to the late President
Ferdinand E. Marcos. Having determined that
Marcos posses the necessary residence
qualifications to run for a seat in the House of
Representatives in the First District of Leyte, the
COMELEC’s questioned resolutions dated April
24, May 7, May11, and May 25 are set aside.
Provincial Board of Canvassers is directed to
DIGEST
proclaim Marcos as the duly elected
Representative of the First District of Leyte.