EN BANC SERENO, JJ.

JOSEPH ERAP EJERCITO

ATTY. EVILLO C. PORMENTO, G.R. No. 191988 ESTRADA and COMMISSION

Petitioner, ON ELECTIONS,

CORONA, C.J., Respondents.

CARPIO, Promulgated:

CARPIO MORALES,

VELASCO, JR., August 31, 2010

NACHURA, x--------------------------------------------------x

LEONARDO-DE CASTRO,

BRION, RESOLUTION

versus PERALTA,
CORONA, C.J.:
BERSAMIN,

DEL CASTILLO,

ABAD, What is the proper interpretation of the following provision of Section 4, Article VII of the Constitution:

[t]he President shall not be eligible for any reelection?

VILLARAMA, JR.,

PEREZ, The novelty and complexity of the constitutional issue involved in this case present a temptation that

MENDOZA and magistrates, lawyers, legal scholars and law students alike would find hard to resist. However, prudence dictates that

this Court exercise judicial restraint where the issue before it has already been mooted by subsequent events. More

importantly, the constitutional requirement of the existence of a case or an actual controversy for the proper exercise

of the power of judicial review constrains us to refuse the allure of making a grand pronouncement that, in the end,

will amount to nothing but a non-binding opinion.

 The petition asks whether private respondent Joseph Ejercito is covered by the ban on the President Private respondent was not elected President the second time he ran. Since the issue on the proper

from any reelection. Private respondent was elected President of the Republic of the Philippines in the general interpretation of the phrase any reelection will be premised on a persons second (whether immediate or not) election

elections held on May 11, 1998. He sought the presidency again in the general elections held on May 10, 2010. as President, there is no case or controversy to be resolved in this case. No live conflict of legal rights exists.6 There

Petitioner Atty. Evillo C. Pormento opposed private respondents candidacy and filed a petition for disqualification. is in this case no definite, concrete, real or substantial controversy that touches on the legal relations of parties having

However, his petition was denied by the Second Division of public respondent Commission on Elections adverse legal interests.7 No specific relief may conclusively be decreed upon by this Court in this case that will

(COMELEC).1 His motion for reconsideration was subsequently denied by the COMELEC en banc.2 benefit any of the parties herein.8 As such, one of the essential requisites for the exercise of the power of judicial

review, the existence of an actual case or controversy, is sorely lacking in this case.

As a rule, this Court may only adjudicate actual, ongoing controversies.9 The Court is not empowered to
Petitioner filed the instant petition for certiorari3 on May 7, 2010. However, under the Rules of Court, the
decide moot questions or abstract propositions, or to declare principles or rules of law which cannot affect the result
filing of such petition would not stay the execution of the judgment, final order or resolution of the COMELEC that is
as to the thing in issue in the case before it.10 In other words, when a case is moot, it becomes non-justiciable.11
sought to be reviewed.4 Besides, petitioner did not even pray for the issuance of a temporary restraining order or writ

of preliminary injunction. Hence, private respondent was able to participate as a candidate for the position of

President in the May 10, 2010 elections where he garnered the second highest number of votes.5
 An action is considered moot when it no longer presents a justiciable controversy because the issues

involved have become academic or dead or when the matter in dispute has already been resolved and hence, one is

not entitled to judicial intervention unless the issue is likely to be raised again between the parties. There is nothing

for the court to resolve as the determination thereof has been overtaken by subsequent events.12

Assuming an actual case or controversy existed prior to the proclamation of a President who has been

duly elected in the May 10, 2010 elections, the same is no longer true today. Following the results of that elections,

private respondent was not elected President for the second time. Thus, any discussion of his reelection will simply

be hypothetical and speculative. It will serve no useful or practical purpose.

Accordingly, the petition is denied due course and is hereby DISMISSED.

SO ORDERED.
 EN BANC representing himself to be a natural-born citizen of the Philippines, stated his name to be "Fernando Jr.," or "Ronald
Allan" Poe, his date of birth to be 20 August 1939 and his place of birth to be Manila.
G.R. No. 161434 March 3, 2004
Victorino X. Fornier, petitioner in G.R. No. 161824, entitled "Victorino X. Fornier, Petitioner, versus Hon. Commission
on Elections and Ronald Allan Kelley Poe, also known as Fernando Poe, Jr., Respondents," initiated, on 09 January
MARIA JEANETTE C. TECSON and FELIX B. DESIDERIO, JR., petitioners,
2004, a petition docketed SPA No. 04-003 before the Commission on Elections ("COMELEC") to disqualify FPJ and
vs.
to deny due course or to cancel his certificate of candidacy upon the thesis that FPJ made a material
The COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS, RONALD ALLAN KELLY POE (a.k.a. FERNANDO POE, JR.) and VICTORINO
misrepresentation in his certificate of candidacy by claiming to be a natural-born Filipino citizen when in truth,
X. FORNIER, respondents.
according to Fornier, his parents were foreigners; his mother, Bessie Kelley Poe, was an American, and his father,
Allan Poe, was a Spanish national, being the son of Lorenzo Pou, a Spanish subject. Granting, petitioner
x-----------------------------x asseverated, that Allan F. Poe was a Filipino citizen, he could not have transmitted his Filipino citizenship to FPJ, the
latter being an illegitimate child of an alien mother. Petitioner based the allegation of the illegitimate birth of
respondent on two assertions - first, Allan F. Poe contracted a prior marriage to a certain Paulita Gomez before his
G.R. No. 161634 March 3, 2004 marriage to Bessie Kelley and, second, even if no such prior marriage had existed, Allan F. Poe, married Bessie Kelly
only a year after the birth of respondent.
ZOILO ANTONIO VELEZ, petitioner,
vs. In the hearing before the Third Division of the COMELEC on 19 January 2004, petitioner, in support of his claim,
RONALD ALLAN KELLEY POE, a.k.a. FERNANDO POE, JR., respondent. presented several documentary exhibits - 1) a copy of the certificate of birth of FPJ, 2) a certified photocopy of an
affidavit executed in Spanish by Paulita Poe y Gomez attesting to her having filed a case for bigamy and concubinage
x-----------------------------x against the father of respondent, Allan F. Poe, after discovering his bigamous relationship with Bessie Kelley, 3) an
English translation of the affidavit aforesaid, 4) a certified photocopy of the certificate of birth of Allan F. Poe, 5) a
certification issued by the Director of the Records Management and Archives Office, attesting to the fact that there
G. R. No. 161824 March 3, 2004 was no record in the National Archives that a Lorenzo Poe or Lorenzo Pou resided or entered the Philippines before
1907, and 6) a certification from the Officer-In-Charge of the Archives Division of the National Archives to the effect
VICTORINO X. FORNIER, petitioner, that no available information could be found in the files of the National Archives regarding the birth of Allan F. Poe.
vs.
HON. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS and RONALD ALLAN KELLEY POE, ALSO KNOWN AS FERNANDO POE On his part, respondent, presented twenty-two documentary pieces of evidence, the more significant ones being - a)
JR., respondents. a certification issued by Estrella M. Domingo of the Archives Division of the National Archives that there appeared to
be no available information regarding the birth of Allan F. Poe in the registry of births for San Carlos, Pangasinan, b) a
DECISION certification issued by the Officer-In-Charge of the Archives Division of the National Archives that no available
information about the marriage of Allan F. Poe and Paulita Gomez could be found, c) a certificate of birth of Ronald
Allan Poe, d) Original Certificate of Title No. P-2247 of the Registry of Deeds for the Province of Pangasinan, in the
VITUG, J.: name of Lorenzo Pou, e) copies of Tax Declaration No. 20844, No. 20643, No. 23477 and No. 23478 in the name of
Lorenzo Pou, f) a copy of the certificate of death of Lorenzo Pou, g) a copy of the purported marriage contract
Citizenship is a treasured right conferred on those whom the state believes are deserving of the privilege. It is a between Fernando Pou and Bessie Kelley, and h) a certification issued by the City Civil Registrar of San Carlos City,
"precious heritage, as well as an inestimable acquisition,"1 that cannot be taken lightly by anyone - either by those Pangasinan, stating that the records of birth in the said office during the period of from 1900 until May 1946 were
who enjoy it or by those who dispute it. totally destroyed during World War II.

Before the Court are three consolidated cases, all of which raise a single question of profound importance to the
nation. The issue of citizenship is brought up to challenge the qualifications of a presidential candidate to hold the
highest office of the land. Our people are waiting for the judgment of the Court with bated breath. Is Fernando Poe,
Jr., the hero of silver screen, and now one of the main contenders for the presidency, a natural-born Filipino or is he
not?
The moment of introspection takes us face to face with Spanish and American colonial roots and reminds us of the
rich heritage of civil law and common law traditions, the fusion resulting in a hybrid of laws and jurisprudence that
could be no less than distinctly Filipino.
Antecedent Case Settings
On 31 December 2003, respondent Ronald Allan Kelly Poe, also known as Fernando Poe, Jr. (hereinafter "FPJ"),
filed his certificate of candidacy for the position of President of the Republic of the Philippines under the Koalisyon ng
Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP) Party, in the forthcoming national elections. In his certificate of candidacy, FPJ,
On 23 January 2004, the COMELEC dismissed SPA No. 04-003 for lack of merit. Three days later, or on 26 January
2004, Fornier filed his motion for reconsideration. The motion was denied on 06 February 2004 by the COMELEC en
banc. On 10 February 2004, petitioner assailed the decision of the COMELEC before this Court conformably with
Rule 64, in relation to Rule 65, of the Revised Rules of Civil Procedure. The petition, docketed G. R. No. 161824,
likewise prayed for a temporary restraining order, a writ of preliminary injunction or any other resolution that would
stay the finality and/or execution of the COMELEC resolutions.
The other petitions, later consolidated with G. R. No. 161824, would include G. R. No. 161434, entitled "Maria
Jeanette C. Tecson, and Felix B. Desiderio, Jr., vs. The Commission on Elections, Ronald Allan Kelley Poe (a.k.a.
Fernando Poe, Jr.), and Victorino X. Fornier," and the other, docketed G. R. No. 161634, entitled "Zoilo Antonio G.
Velez, vs. Ronald Allan Kelley Poe, a.k.a. Fernando Poe, Jr.," both challenging the jurisdiction of the COMELEC and
asserting that, under Article VII, Section 4, paragraph 7, of the 1987 Constitution, only the Supreme Court had original
and exclusive jurisdiction to resolve the basic issue on the case.
Jurisdiction of the Court

In G. R. No. 161824
In seeking the disqualification of the candidacy of FPJ and to have the COMELEC deny due course to or cancel FPJs
certificate of candidacy for alleged misrepresentation of a material fact (i.e., that FPJ was a natural-born citizen)
before the COMELEC, petitioner Fornier invoked Section 78 of the Omnibus Election Code
"Section 78. Petition to deny due course to or cancel a certificate of candidacy. --- A verified
petition seeking to deny due course or to cancel a certificate of candidacy may be filed by
any person exclusively on the ground that any material representation contained therein as
required under Section 74 hereof is false"
in consonance with the general powers of COMELEC expressed in Section 52 of the Omnibus Election Code -
"Section 52. Powers and functions of the Commission on Elections. In addition to the powers
and functions conferred upon it by the Constitution, the Commission shall have exclusive
charge of the enforcement and administration of all laws relative to the conduct of elections
for the purpose of ensuring free, orderly and honest elections" -
and in relation to Article 69 of the Omnibus Election Code which would authorize "any
interested party" to file a verified petition to deny or cancel the certificate of candidacy of any
nuisance candidate.
Decisions of the COMELEC on disqualification cases may be reviewed by the Supreme Court per Rule 64 2 in an
action for certiorari under Rule 653 of the Revised Rules of Civil Procedure. Section 7, Article IX, of the 1987
Constitution also reads
"Each Commission shall decide by a majority vote of all its Members any case or matter
brought before it within sixty days from the date of its submission for decision or resolution. A
case or matter is deemed submitted for decision or resolution upon the filing of the last
pleading, brief, or memorandum, required by the rules of the Commission or by the
Commission itself. Unless otherwise provided by this Constitution or by law, any decision,
order, or ruling of each Commission may be brought to the Supreme Court on certiorari by
the aggrieved party within thirty days from receipt of a copy thereof."
Additionally, Section 1, Article VIII, of the same Constitution provides that judicial power is vested in one Supreme
Court and in such lower courts as may be established by law which power "includes the duty of the courts of justice to
settle actual controversies involving rights which are legally demandable and enforceable, and to determine whether
or not there has been a grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction on the part of any branch
or instrumentality of the Government."
It is sufficiently clear that the petition brought up in G. R. No. 161824 was aptly elevated to, and could well be taken
cognizance of by, this Court. A contrary view could be a gross denial to our people of their fundamental right to be
fully informed, and to make a proper choice, on who could or should be elected to occupy the highest government
post in the land.
In G. R. No. 161434 and G. R. No. 161634
Petitioners Tecson, et al., in G. R. No. 161434, and Velez, in G. R. No. 161634, invoke the provisions of Article VII,
Section 4, paragraph 7, of the 1987 Constitution in assailing the jurisdiction of the COMELEC when it took cognizance
of SPA No. 04-003 and in urging the Supreme Court to instead take on the petitions they directly instituted before it.
The Constitutional provision cited reads:
"The Supreme Court, sitting en banc, shall be the sole judge of all contests relating to the
election, returns, and qualifications of the President or Vice-President, and may promulgate
its rules for the purpose."
The provision is an innovation of the 1987 Constitution. The omission in the 1935 and the 1973 Constitution to
designate any tribunal to be the sole judge of presidential and vice-presidential contests, has constrained this Court to
declare, in Lopez vs. Roxas,4 as "not (being) justiciable" controversies or disputes involving contests on the elections,
returns and qualifications of the President or Vice-President. The constitutional lapse prompted Congress, on 21 June
1957, to enact Republic Act No. 1793, "An Act Constituting an Independent Presidential Electoral Tribunal to Try,
Hear and Decide Protests Contesting the Election of the President-Elect and the Vice-President-Elect of the
Philippines and Providing for the Manner of Hearing the Same." Republic Act 1793 designated the Chief Justice and
the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court to be the members of the tribunal. Although the subsequent adoption of
the parliamentary form of government under the 1973 Constitution might have implicitly affected Republic Act No.
1793, the statutory set-up, nonetheless, would now be deemed revived under the present Section 4, paragraph 7, of
the 1987 Constitution.
Ordinary usage would characterize a "contest" in reference to a post-election scenario. Election contests consist of
either an election protest or a quo warranto which, although two distinct remedies, would have one objective in view,
i.e., to dislodge the winning candidate from office. A perusal of the phraseology in Rule 12, Rule 13, and Rule 14 of
the "Rules of the Presidential Electoral Tribunal," promulgated by the Supreme Court en banc on 18 April 1992, would
support this premise -
"Rule 12. Jurisdiction. - The Tribunal shall be the sole judge of all contests relating to the
election, returns, and qualifications of the President or Vice-President of the Philippines.
"Rule 13. How Initiated. - An election contest is initiated by the filing of an election protest or
a petition for quo warranto against the President or Vice-President. An election protest shall
not include a petition for quo warranto. A petition for quo warranto shall not include an
election protest.
"Rule 14. Election Protest. - Only the registered candidate for President or for Vice-President
of the Philippines who received the second or third highest number of votes may contest the
election of the President or the Vice-President, as the case may be, by filing a verified
petition with the Clerk of the Presidential Electoral Tribunal within thirty (30) days after the
proclamation of the winner."
The rules categorically speak of the jurisdiction of the tribunal over contests relating to the election, returns and
qualifications of the "President" or "Vice-President", of the Philippines, and not of "candidates" for President or Vice-
President. A quo warranto proceeding is generally defined as being an action against a person who usurps, intrudes
into, or unlawfully holds or exercises a public office.5 In such context, the election contest can only contemplate a
post-election scenario. In Rule 14, only a registered candidate who would have received either the second or third
highest number of votes could file an election protest. This rule again presupposes a post-election scenario.
It is fair to conclude that the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, defined by Section 4, paragraph 7, of the 1987
Constitution, would not include cases directly brought before it, questioning the qualifications of a candidate for the
presidency or vice-presidency before the elections are held.
Accordingly, G. R. No. 161434, entitled "Maria Jeanette C. Tecson, et al., vs. Commission on Elections et al.," and G.
R. No. 161634, entitled "Zoilo Antonio Velez vs. Ronald Allan Kelley Poe a.k.a. Fernando Poe, Jr." would have to be
dismissed for want of jurisdiction.
The Citizenship Issue
Now, to the basic issue; it should be helpful to first give a brief historical background on the concept of citizenship.
Perhaps, the earliest understanding of citizenship was that given by Aristotle, who, sometime in 384 to 322 B.C.,
described the "citizen" to refer to a man who shared in the administration of justice and in the holding of an office.6
Aristotle saw its significance if only to determine the constituency of the "State," which he described as being
composed of such persons who would be adequate in number to achieve a self-sufficient existence.7 The concept
grew to include one who would both govern and be governed, for which qualifications like autonomy, judgment and
loyalty could be expected. Citizenship was seen to deal with rights and entitlements, on the one hand, and with
concomitant obligations, on the other.8 In its ideal setting, a citizen was active in public life and fundamentally willing
to submit his private interests to the general interest of society.
The concept of citizenship had undergone changes over the centuries. In the 18th century, the concept was limited,
by and large, to civil citizenship, which established the rights necessary for individual freedom, such as rights to
property, personal liberty and justice.9 Its meaning expanded during the 19th century to include political citizenship,
which encompassed the right to participate in the exercise of political power.10 The 20th century saw the next stage of
the development of social citizenship, which laid emphasis on the right of the citizen to economic well-being and
social security.11 The idea of citizenship has gained expression in the modern welfare state as it so developed in
Western Europe. An ongoing and final stage of development, in keeping with the rapidly shrinking global village,
might well be the internationalization of citizenship.12
The Local Setting - from Spanish Times to the Present
There was no such term as "Philippine citizens" during the Spanish regime but "subjects of Spain" or "Spanish
subjects."13 In church records, the natives were called 'indios', denoting a low regard for the inhabitants of the
archipelago. Spanish laws on citizenship became highly codified during the 19th century but their sheer number made
it difficult to point to one comprehensive law. Not all of these citizenship laws of Spain however, were made to apply
to the Philippine Islands except for those explicitly extended by Royal Decrees.14
Spanish laws on citizenship were traced back to the Novisima Recopilacion, promulgated in Spain on 16 July 1805
but as to whether the law was extended to the Philippines remained to be the subject of differing views among
experts;15 however, three royal decrees were undisputably made applicable to Spaniards in the Philippines - the
Order de la Regencia of 14 August 1841,16 the Royal Decree of 23 August 1868 specifically defining the political
status of children born in the Philippine Islands,17 and finally, the Ley Extranjera de Ultramar of 04 July 1870, which
was expressly made applicable to the Philippines by the Royal Decree of 13 July 1870.18
The Spanish Constitution of 1876 was never extended to the Philippine Islands because of the express mandate of its
Article 89, according to which the provisions of the Ultramar among which this country was included, would be
governed by special laws.19
It was only the Civil Code of Spain, made effective in this jurisdiction on 18 December 1889, which came out with the
first categorical enumeration of who were Spanish citizens. -
"(a) Persons born in Spanish territory,
"(b) Children of a Spanish father or mother, even if they were born outside of Spain,
"(c) Foreigners who have obtained naturalization papers,
"(d) Those who, without such papers, may have become domiciled inhabitants of any town of
the Monarchy."20
The year 1898 was another turning point in Philippine history. Already in the state of decline as a superpower, Spain
was forced to so cede her sole colony in the East to an upcoming world power, the United States. An accepted
principle of international law dictated that a change in sovereignty, while resulting in an abrogation of all political laws
then in force, would have no effect on civil laws, which would remain virtually intact.
The Treaty of Paris was entered into on 10 December 1898 between Spain and the United States.21 Under Article IX
of the treaty, the civil rights and political status of the native inhabitants of the territories ceded to the United States
would be determined by its Congress -
"Spanish subjects, natives of the Peninsula, residing in the territory over which Spain by the
present treaty relinquishes or cedes her sovereignty may remain in such territory or may
remove therefrom, retaining in either event all their rights of property, including the right to
sell or dispose of such property or of its proceeds; and they shall also have the right to carry
on their industry, commerce, and professions, being subject in respect thereof to such laws
as are applicable to foreigners. In case they remain in the territory they may preserve their
allegiance to the Crown of Spain by making, before a court of record, within a year from the
date of the exchange of ratifications of this treaty, a declaration of their decision to preserve
such allegiance; in default of which declaration they shall be held to have renounced it and to
have adopted the nationality of the territory in which they reside.
Thus
"The civil rights and political status of the native inhabitants of the territories hereby ceded to
the United States shall be determined by the Congress."22
Upon the ratification of the treaty, and pending legislation by the United States Congress on the subject, the native
inhabitants of the Philippines ceased to be Spanish subjects. Although they did not become American citizens, they,
however, also ceased to be "aliens" under American laws and were thus issued passports describing them to be
citizens of the Philippines entitled to the protection of the United States.
The term "citizens of the Philippine Islands" appeared for the first time in the Philippine Bill of 1902, also commonly
referred to as the Philippine Organic Act of 1902, the first comprehensive legislation of the Congress of the United
States on the Philippines -
".... that all inhabitants of the Philippine Islands continuing to reside therein, who were
Spanish subjects on the 11th day of April, 1891, and then resided in said Islands, and their
children born subsequent thereto, shall be deemed and held to be citizens of the Philippine
Islands and as such entitled to the protection of the United States, except such as shall have
elected to preserve their allegiance to the Crown of Spain in accordance with the provisions
of the treaty of peace between the United States and Spain, signed at Paris, December tenth
eighteen hundred and ninety eight."23
Under the organic act, a "citizen of the Philippines" was one who was an inhabitant of the Philippines, and a Spanish
subject on the 11th day of April 1899. The term "inhabitant" was taken to include 1) a native-born inhabitant, 2) an
inhabitant who was a native of Peninsular Spain, and 3) an inhabitant who obtained Spanish papers on or before 11
April 1899.24
Controversy arose on to the status of children born in the Philippines from 11 April 1899 to 01 July 1902, during which
period no citizenship law was extant in the Philippines. Weight was given to the view, articulated in jurisprudential
writing at the time, that the common law principle of jus soli, otherwise also known as the principle of territoriality,
operative in the United States and England, governed those born in the Philippine Archipelago within that period.25
More about this later.
In 23 March 1912, the Congress of the United States made the following amendment to the Philippine Bill of 1902 -
"Provided, That the Philippine Legislature is hereby authorized to provide by law for the
acquisition of Philippine citizenship by those natives of the Philippine Islands who do not
come within the foregoing provisions, the natives of other insular possession of the United
 States, and such other persons residing in the Philippine Islands who would become citizens "Section 1, Article III, 1973 Constitution - The following are citizens of the Philippines:
of the United States, under the laws of the United States, if residing therein."26
"(1) Those who are citizens of the Philippines at the time of the adoption of this Constitution.
With the adoption of the Philippine Bill of 1902, the concept of "Philippine citizens" had for the first time crystallized.
The word "Filipino" was used by William H. Taft, the first Civil Governor General in the Philippines when he initially
"(2) Those whose fathers or mothers are citizens of the Philippines.
made mention of it in his slogan, "The Philippines for the Filipinos." In 1916, the Philippine Autonomy Act, also known
as the Jones Law restated virtually the provisions of the Philippine Bill of 1902, as so amended by the Act of
Congress in 1912 - "(3) Those who elect Philippine citizenship pursuant to the provisions of the Constitution of
nineteen hundred and thirty-five.
"That all inhabitants of the Philippine Islands who were Spanish subjects on the eleventh day
of April, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, and then resided in said Islands, and their "(4) Those who are naturalized in accordance with law."
children born subsequently thereto, shall be deemed and held to be citizens of the Philippine
Islands, except such as shall have elected to preserve their allegiance to the Crown of Spain
in accordance with the provisions of the treaty of peace between the United States and For good measure, Section 2 of the same article also further provided that
Spain, signed at Paris December tenth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight and except such
others as have since become citizens of some other country; Provided, That the Philippine "A female citizen of the Philippines who marries an alien retains her Philippine citizenship,
Legislature, herein provided for, is hereby authorized to provide for the acquisition of unless by her act or omission she is deemed, under the law to have renounced her
Philippine citizenship by those natives of the Philippine Islands who do not come within the citizenship."
foregoing provisions, the natives of the insular possessions of the United States, and such
other persons residing in the Philippine Islands who are citizens of the United States, or who
could become citizens of the United States under the laws of the United States, if residing The 1987 Constitution generally adopted the provisions of the 1973 Constitution, except for subsection (3) thereof
therein." that aimed to correct the irregular situation generated by the questionable proviso in the 1935 Constitution.

Under the Jones Law, a native-born inhabitant of the Philippines was deemed to be a citizen of the Philippines as of Section I, Article IV, 1987 Constitution now provides:
11 April 1899 if he was 1) a subject of Spain on 11 April 1899, 2) residing in the Philippines on said date, and, 3)
since that date, not a citizen of some other country. "The following are citizens of the Philippines:

While there was, at one brief time, divergent views on whether or not jus soli was a mode of acquiring citizenship, the "(1) Those who are citizens of the Philippines at the time of the adoption of this
1935 Constitution brought to an end to any such link with common law, by adopting, once and for all, jus sanguinis or Constitution.
blood relationship as being the basis of Filipino citizenship -
"(2) Those whose fathers or mothers are citizens of the Philippines.
"Section 1, Article III, 1935 Constitution. The following are citizens of the Philippines -
"(3) Those born before January 17, 1973 of Filipino mothers, who elect
"(1) Those who are citizens of the Philippine Islands at the time of the adoption of this Philippine citizenship upon reaching the age of majority; and
Constitution
"(4) Those who are naturalized in accordance with law."
"(2) Those born in the Philippines Islands of foreign parents who, before the adoption of this
Constitution, had been elected to public office in the Philippine Islands.
The Case Of FPJ

"(3) Those whose fathers are citizens of the Philippines.

Section 2, Article VII, of the 1987 Constitution expresses:

"(4) Those whose mothers are citizens of the Philippines and upon reaching the age of
majority, elect Philippine citizenship.
"(5) Those who are naturalized in accordance with law."
Subsection (4), Article III, of the 1935 Constitution, taken together with existing civil law provisions at the time, which
provided that women would automatically lose their Filipino citizenship and acquire that of their foreign husbands,
resulted in discriminatory situations that effectively incapacitated the women from transmitting their Filipino citizenship
to their legitimate children and required illegitimate children of Filipino mothers to still elect Filipino citizenship upon
reaching the age of majority. Seeking to correct this anomaly, as well as fully cognizant of the newly found status of
Filipino women as equals to men, the framers of the 1973 Constitution crafted the provisions of the new Constitution
on citizenship to reflect such concerns -
"No person may be elected President unless he is a natural-born citizen of the Philippines, a
registered voter, able to read and write, at least forty years of age on the day of the election,
and a resident of the Philippines for at least ten years immediately preceding such election."
The term "natural-born citizens," is defined to include "those who are citizens of the Philippines from birth without
having to perform any act to acquire or perfect their Philippine citizenship."27
The date, month and year of birth of FPJ appeared to be 20 August 1939 during the regime of the 1935 Constitution.
Through its history, four modes of acquiring citizenship - naturalization, jus soli, res judicata and jus sanguinis28 had
been in vogue. Only two, i.e., jus soli and jus sanguinis, could qualify a person to being a "natural-born" citizen of the
Philippines. Jus soli, per Roa vs. Collector of Customs29 (1912), did not last long. With the adoption of the 1935
Constitution and the reversal of Roa in Tan Chong vs. Secretary of Labor30 (1947), jus sanguinis or blood relationship
would now become the primary basis of citizenship by birth.
Documentary evidence adduced by petitioner would tend to indicate that the earliest established direct ascendant of
FPJ was his paternal grandfather Lorenzo Pou, married to Marta Reyes, the father of Allan F. Poe. While the record
of birth of Lorenzo Pou had not been presented in evidence, his death certificate, however, identified him to be a
Filipino, a resident of San Carlos, Pangasinan, and 84 years old at the time of his death on 11 September 1954. The
certificate of birth of the father of FPJ, Allan F. Poe, showed that he was born on 17 May 1915 to an Espaol father,
Lorenzo Pou, and a mestiza Espaol mother, Marta Reyes. Introduced by petitioner was an "uncertified" copy of a
supposed certificate of the alleged marriage of Allan F. Poe and Paulita Gomez on 05 July 1936. The marriage
certificate of Allan F. Poe and Bessie Kelley reflected the date of their marriage to be on 16 September 1940. In the
same certificate, Allan F. Poe was stated to be twenty-five years old, unmarried, and a Filipino citizen, and Bessie
Kelley to be twenty-two years old, unmarried, and an American citizen. The birth certificate of FPJ, would disclose
that he was born on 20 August 1939 to Allan F. Poe, a Filipino, twenty-four years old, married to Bessie Kelly, an
American citizen, twenty-one years old and married.
Considering the reservations made by the parties on the veracity of some of the entries on the birth certificate of
respondent and the marriage certificate of his parents, the only conclusions that could be drawn with some degree of
certainty from the documents would be that -
1. The parents of FPJ were Allan F. Poe and Bessie Kelley;
2. FPJ was born to them on 20 August 1939;
3. Allan F. Poe and Bessie Kelley were married to each other on 16 September, 1940;
4. The father of Allan F. Poe was Lorenzo Poe; and
5. At the time of his death on 11 September 1954, Lorenzo Poe was 84 years old.
Would the above facts be sufficient or insufficient to establish the fact that FPJ is a natural-born Filipino citizen? The
marriage certificate of Allan F. Poe and Bessie Kelley, the birth certificate of FPJ, and the death certificate of Lorenzo
Pou are documents of public record in the custody of a public officer. The documents have been submitted in
evidence by both contending parties during the proceedings before the COMELEC.
The birth certificate of FPJ was marked Exhibit "A" for petitioner and Exhibit "3" for respondent. The marriage
certificate of Allan F. Poe to Bessie Kelley was submitted as Exhibit "21" for respondent. The death certificate of
Lorenzo Pou was submitted by respondent as his Exhibit "5." While the last two documents were submitted in
evidence for respondent, the admissibility thereof, particularly in reference to the facts which they purported to show,
i.e., the marriage certificate in relation to the date of marriage of Allan F. Poe to Bessie Kelley and the death
certificate relative to the death of Lorenzo Pou on 11 September 1954 in San Carlos, Pangasinan, were all admitted
by petitioner, who had utilized those material statements in his argument. All three documents were certified true
copies of the originals.
Section 3, Rule 130, Rules of Court states that -
"Original document must be produced; exceptions. - When the subject of inquiry is the
contents of a document, no evidence shall be admissible other than the original document
itself, except in the following cases:
"x x x xxx xxx
"(d) When the original is a public record in the custody of a public office or is recorded in a
public office."
Being public documents, the death certificate of Lorenzo Pou, the marriage certificate of Allan F. Poe and Bessie
Kelly, and the birth certificate of FPJ, constitute prima facie proof of their contents. Section 44, Rule 130, of the Rules
of Court provides:
"Entries in official records. Entries in official records made in the performance of his duty by a
public officer of the Philippines, or by a person in the performance of a duty specially
enjoined by law, are prima facie evidence of the facts therein stated."
The trustworthiness of public documents and the value given to the entries made therein could be grounded on 1) the
sense of official duty in the preparation of the statement made, 2) the penalty which is usually affixed to a breach of
that duty, 3) the routine and disinterested origin of most such statements, and 4) the publicity of record which makes
more likely the prior exposure of such errors as might have occurred.31
The death certificate of Lorenzo Pou would indicate that he died on 11 September 1954, at the age of 84 years, in
San Carlos, Pangasinan. It could thus be assumed that Lorenzo Pou was born sometime in the year 1870 when the
Philippines was still a colony of Spain. Petitioner would argue that Lorenzo Pou was not in the Philippines during the
crucial period of from 1898 to 1902 considering that there was no existing record about such fact in the Records
Management and Archives Office. Petitioner, however, likewise failed to show that Lorenzo Pou was at any other
place during the same period. In his death certificate, the residence of Lorenzo Pou was stated to be San Carlos,
Pangasinan. In the absence of any evidence to the contrary, it should be sound to conclude, or at least to presume,
that the place of residence of a person at the time of his death was also his residence before death. It would be
extremely doubtful if the Records Management and Archives Office would have had complete records of all residents
of the Philippines from 1898 to 1902.
Proof of Paternity and Filiation
Under Civil Law.
Petitioner submits, in any case, that in establishing filiation (relationship or civil status of the child to the father [or
mother]) or paternity (relationship or civil status of the father to the child) of an illegitimate child, FPJ evidently being
an illegitimate son according to petitioner, the mandatory rules under civil law must be used.
Under the Civil Code of Spain, which was in force in the Philippines from 08 December 1889 up until the day prior to
30 August 1950 when the Civil Code of the Philippines took effect, acknowledgment was required to establish filiation
or paternity. Acknowledgment was either judicial (compulsory) or voluntary. Judicial or compulsory acknowledgment
was possible only if done during the lifetime of the putative parent; voluntary acknowledgment could only be had in a
record of birth, a will, or a public document.32 Complementary to the new code was Act No. 3753 or the Civil Registry
Law expressing in Section 5 thereof, that -
"In case of an illegitimate child, the birth certificate shall be signed and sworn to jointly by the
parents of the infant or only by the mother if the father refuses. In the latter case, it shall not
be permissible to state or reveal in the document the name of the father who refuses to
acknowledge the child, or to give therein any information by which such father could be
identified."
In order that the birth certificate could then be utilized to prove voluntary acknowledgment of filiation or paternity, the
certificate was required to be signed or sworn to by the father. The failure of such requirement rendered the same
useless as being an authoritative document of recognition.33 In Mendoza vs. Mella,34 the Court ruled -
 "Since Rodolfo was born in 1935, after the registry law was enacted, the question here really
is whether or not his birth certificate (Exhibit 1), which is merely a certified copy of the
registry record, may be relied upon as sufficient proof of his having been voluntarily
recognized. No such reliance, in our judgment, may be placed upon it. While it contains the
names of both parents, there is no showing that they signed the original, let alone swore to
its contents as required in Section 5 of Act No. 3753. For all that might have happened, it
was not even they or either of them who furnished the data to be entered in the civil register.
Petitioners say that in any event the birth certificate is in the nature of a public document
wherein voluntary recognition of a natural child may also be made, according to the same
Article 131. True enough, but in such a case, there must be a clear statement in the
document that the parent recognizes the child as his or her own."
In the birth certificate of respondent FPJ, presented by both parties, nowhere in the document was the signature of
Allan F. Poe found. There being no will apparently executed, or at least shown to have been executed, by decedent
Allan F. Poe, the only other proof of voluntary recognition remained to be "some other public document." In Pareja vs.
Pareja,35 this Court defined what could constitute such a document as proof of voluntary acknowledgment:
"Under the Spanish Civil Code there are two classes of public documents, those executed by
private individuals which must be authenticated by notaries, and those issued by competent
public officials by reason of their office. The public document pointed out in Article 131 as
one of the means by which recognition may be made belongs to the first class."
Let us leave it at that for the moment.
The 1950 Civil Code categorized the acknowledgment or recognition of illegitimate children into voluntary, legal or
compulsory. Voluntary recognition was required to be expressedly made in a record of birth, a will, a statement before
a court of record or in any authentic writing. Legal acknowledgment took place in favor of full blood brothers and
sisters of an illegitimate child who was recognized or judicially declared as natural. Compulsory acknowledgment
could be demanded generally in cases when the child had in his favor any evidence to prove filiation. Unlike an action
to claim legitimacy which would last during the lifetime of the child, and might pass exceptionally to the heirs of the
child, an action to claim acknowledgment, however, could only be brought during the lifetime of the presumed parent.
Amicus Curiae Ruben F. Balane defined, during the oral argument, "authentic writing," so as to be an authentic writing
for purposes of voluntary recognition, simply as being a genuine or indubitable writing of the father. The term would
include a public instrument (one duly acknowledged before a notary public or other competent official) or a private
writing admitted by the father to be his.
The Family Code has further liberalized the rules; Article 172, Article 173, and Article 175 provide:
"Art. 172. The filiation of legitimate children is established by any of the following:
"(1) The record of birth appearing in the civil register or a final judgment; or
"(2) An admission of legitimate filiation in a public document or a private handwritten
instrument and signed by the parent concerned.
"In the absence of the foregoing evidence, the legitimate filiation shall be proved by:
"(1) The open and continuous possession of the status of a legitimate child; or
"(2) Any other means allowed by the Rules of Court and special laws.
"Art. 173. The action to claim legitimacy may be brought by the child during his or her lifetime
and shall be transmitted to the heirs should the child die during minority or in a state of
insanity. In these cases, the heirs shall have a period of five years within which to institute
the action.
"The action already commenced by the child shall survive notwithstanding the death of either
or both of the parties.
"x x x xxx x x x.
"Art. 175. Illegitimate children may establish their illegitimate filiation in the same way and on
the same, evidence as legitimate children.
"The action must be brought within the same period specified in Article 173, except when the
action is based on the second paragraph of Article 172, in which case the action may be
brought during the lifetime of the alleged parent."
The provisions of the Family Code are retroactively applied; Article 256 of the code reads:
"Art. 256. This Code shall have retroactive effect insofar as it does not prejudice or impair
vested or acquired rights in accordance with the Civil Code or other laws."
Thus, in Vda. de Sy-Quia vs. Court of Appeals,36 the Court has ruled:
"We hold that whether Jose was a voluntarily recognized natural child should be decided
under Article 278 of the Civil Code of the Philippines. Article 2260 of that Code provides that
'the voluntary recognition of a natural child shall take place according to this Code, even if
the child was born before the effectivity of this body of laws' or before August 30, 1950.
Hence, Article 278 may be given retroactive effect."
It should be apparent that the growing trend to liberalize the acknowledgment or recognition of illegitimate children is
an attempt to break away from the traditional idea of keeping well apart legitimate and non-legitimate relationships
within the family in favor of the greater interest and welfare of the child. The provisions are intended to merely govern
the private and personal affairs of the family. There is little, if any, to indicate that the legitimate or illegitimate civil
status of the individual would also affect his political rights or, in general, his relationship to the State. While, indeed,
provisions on "citizenship" could be found in the Civil Code, such provisions must be taken in the context of private
relations, the domain of civil law; particularly -
"Civil Law is that branch of law which has for its double purpose the organization of the
family and the regulation of property. It has thus [been] defined as the mass of precepts
which determine and regulate the relations of assistance, authority and obedience among
members of a family, and those which exist among members of a society for the protection of
private interests."37
In Yaez de Barnuevo vs. Fuster,38 the Court has held:
"In accordance with Article 9 of the Civil Code of Spain, x x x the laws relating to family rights
and duties, or to the status, condition and legal capacity of persons, govern Spaniards
although they reside in a foreign country; that, in consequence, 'all questions of a civil
nature, such as those dealing with the validity or nullity of the matrimonial bond, the domicile
of the husband and wife, their support, as between them, the separation of their properties,
the rules governing property, marital authority, division of conjugal property, the classification
 of their property, legal causes for divorce, the extent of the latter, the authority to decree it,
and, in general, the civil effects of marriage and divorce upon the persons and properties of
the spouses, are questions that are governed exclusively by the national law of the husband
and wife."
The relevance of "citizenship" or "nationality" to Civil Law is best exemplified in Article 15 of the Civil Code, stating
that -
"Laws relating to family rights and duties, or to the status, condition and legal capacity of
persons are binding upon citizens of the Philippines, even though living abroad" -
that explains the need to incorporate in the code a reiteration of the Constitutional provisions on citizenship. Similarly,
citizenship is significant in civil relationships found in different parts of the Civil Code,39 such as on successional rights
and family relations.40 In adoption, for instance, an adopted child would be considered the child of his adoptive
parents and accorded the same rights as their legitimate child but such legal fiction extended only to define his rights
under civil law41 and not his political status.
Civil law provisions point to an obvious bias against illegitimacy. This discriminatory attitude may be traced to the
Spanish family and property laws, which, while defining proprietary and successional rights of members of the family,
provided distinctions in the rights of legitimate and illegitimate children. In the monarchial set-up of old Spain, the
distribution and inheritance of titles and wealth were strictly according to bloodlines and the concern to keep these
bloodlines uncontaminated by foreign blood was paramount.
These distinctions between legitimacy and illegitimacy were codified in the Spanish Civil Code, and the invidious
discrimination survived when the Spanish Civil Code became the primary source of our own Civil Code. Such
distinction, however, remains and should remain only in the sphere of civil law and not unduly impede or impinge on
the domain of political law.
The proof of filiation or paternity for purposes of determining his citizenship status should thus be deemed
independent from and not inextricably tied up with that prescribed for civil law purposes. The Civil Code or Family
Code provisions on proof of filiation or paternity, although good law, do not have preclusive effects on matters alien to
personal and family relations. The ordinary rules on evidence could well and should govern. For instance, the matter
about pedigree is not necessarily precluded from being applicable by the Civil Code or Family Code provisions.
Section 39, Rule 130, of the Rules of Court provides -
"Act or Declaration about pedigree. The act or declaration of a person deceased, or unable
to testify, in respect to the pedigree of another person related to him by birth or marriage,
may be received in evidence where it occurred before the controversy, and the relationship
between the two persons is shown by evidence other than such act or declaration. The word
`pedigree includes relationship, family genealogy, birth, marriage, death, the dates when
and the places where these facts occurred, and the names of the relatives. It embraces also
facts of family history intimately connected with pedigree."
For the above rule to apply, it would be necessary that (a) the declarant is already dead or unable to testify, (b) the
pedigree of a person must be at issue, (c) the declarant must be a relative of the person whose pedigree is in
question, (d) declaration must be made before the controversy has occurred, and (e) the relationship between the
declarant and the person whose pedigree is in question must be shown by evidence other than such act or
declaration.
Thus, the duly notarized declaration made by Ruby Kelley Mangahas, sister of Bessie Kelley Poe submitted as
Exhibit 20 before the COMELEC, might be accepted to prove the acts of Allan F. Poe, recognizing his own paternal
relationship with FPJ, i.e, living together with Bessie Kelley and his children (including respondent FPJ) in one house,
and as one family -
"I, Ruby Kelley Mangahas, of legal age and sound mind, presently residing in Stockton,
California, U.S.A., after being sworn in accordance with law do hereby declare that:
"1. I am the sister of the late Bessie Kelley Poe.
"2. Bessie Kelley Poe was the wife of Fernando Poe, Sr.
"3. Fernando and Bessie Poe had a son by the name of Ronald Allan Poe, more popularly
known in the Philippines as `Fernando Poe, Jr., or `FPJ.
"4. Ronald Allan Poe `FPJ was born on August 20, 1939 at St. Luke's Hospital, Magdalena
Street, Manila.
"x x x xxx xxx
"7. Fernando Poe Sr., and my sister Bessie, met and became engaged while they were
students at the University of the Philippines in 1936. I was also introduced to Fernando Poe,
Sr., by my sister that same year.
"8. Fernando Poe, Sr., and my sister Bessie had their first child in 1938.
"9. Fernando Poe, Sr., my sister Bessie and their first three children, Elizabeth, Ronald, Allan
and Fernando II, and myself lived together with our mother at our family's house on Dakota
St. (now Jorge Bocobo St.), Malate until the liberation of Manila in 1945, except for some
months between 1943-1944.
"10. Fernando Poe, Sr., and my sister, Bessie, were blessed with four (4) more children after
Ronald Allan Poe.
"x x x xxx xxx
"18. I am executing this Declaration to attest to the fact that my nephew, Ronald Allan Poe is
a natural born Filipino, and that he is the legitimate child of Fernando Poe, Sr.
"Done in City of Stockton, California, U.S.A., this 12th day of January 2004.
Ruby Kelley Mangahas Declarant DNA Testing
In case proof of filiation or paternity would be unlikely to satisfactorily establish or would be difficult to obtain, DNA
testing, which examines genetic codes obtained from body cells of the illegitimate child and any physical residue of
the long dead parent could be resorted to. A positive match would clear up filiation or paternity. In Tijing vs. Court of
Appeals,42 this Court has acknowledged the strong weight of DNA testing -
"Parentage will still be resolved using conventional methods unless we adopt the modern and scientific ways
available. Fortunately, we have now the facility and expertise in using DNA test for identification and parentage
testing. The University of the Philippines Natural Science Research Institute (UP-NSRI) DNA Analysis Laboratory has
now the capability to conduct DNA typing using short tandem repeat (STR) analysis. The analysis is based on the fact
that the DNA of a child/person has two (2) copies, one copy from the mother and the other from the father. The DNA
from the mother, the alleged father and the child are analyzed to establish parentage. Of course, being a novel
scientific technique, the use of DNA test as evidence is still open to challenge. Eventually, as the appropriate case
comes, courts should not hesitate to rule on the admissibility of DNA evidence. For it was said, that courts should
apply the results of science when competently obtained in aid of situations presented, since to reject said result is to
deny progress."
Petitioners Argument For Jurisprudential Conclusiveness
Petitioner would have it that even if Allan F. Poe were a Filipino citizen, he could not have transmitted his citizenship
to respondent FPJ, the latter being an illegitimate child. According to petitioner, prior to his marriage to Bessie Kelley,
Allan F. Poe, on July 5, 1936, contracted marriage with a certain Paulita Gomez, making his subsequent marriage to
Bessie Kelley bigamous and respondent FPJ an illegitimate child. The veracity of the supposed certificate of marriage
between Allan F. Poe and Paulita Gomez could be most doubtful at best. But the documentary evidence introduced
by no less than respondent himself, consisting of a birth certificate of respondent and a marriage certificate of his
parents showed that FPJ was born on 20 August 1939 to a Filipino father and an American mother who were married
to each other a year later, or on 16 September 1940. Birth to unmarried parents would make FPJ an illegitimate child.
Petitioner contended that as an illegitimate child, FPJ so followed the citizenship of his mother, Bessie Kelley, an
American citizen, basing his stand on the ruling of this Court in Morano vs. Vivo,43 citing Chiongbian vs. de Leo44 and
Serra vs. Republic.45
On the above score, the disquisition made by amicus curiae Joaquin G. Bernas, SJ, is most convincing; he states -
"We must analyze these cases and ask what the lis mota was in each of them. If the
pronouncement of the Court on jus sanguinis was on the lis mota, the pronouncement would
be a decision constituting doctrine under the rule of stare decisis. But if the pronouncement
was irrelevant to the lis mota, the pronouncement would not be a decision but a mere obiter
dictum which did not establish doctrine. I therefore invite the Court to look closely into these
cases.
"First, Morano vs. Vivo. The case was not about an illegitimate child of a Filipino father. It
was about a stepson of a Filipino, a stepson who was the child of a Chinese mother and a
Chinese father. The issue was whether the stepson followed the naturalization of the
stepfather. Nothing about jus sanguinis there. The stepson did not have the blood of the
naturalized stepfather.
"Second, Chiongbian vs. de Leon. This case was not about the illegitimate son of a Filipino
father. It was about a legitimate son of a father who had become Filipino by election to public
office before the 1935 Constitution pursuant to Article IV, Section 1(2) of the 1935
Constitution. No one was illegitimate here.
"Third, Serra vs. Republic. The case was not about the illegitimate son of a Filipino father.
Serra was an illegitimate child of a Chinese father and a Filipino mother. The issue was
whether one who was already a Filipino because of his mother who still needed to be
naturalized. There is nothing there about invidious jus sanguinis.
"Finally, Paa vs. Chan.46 This is a more complicated case. The case was about the
citizenship of Quintin Chan who was the son of Leoncio Chan. Quintin Chan claimed that his
father, Leoncio, was the illegitimate son of a Chinese father and a Filipino mother. Quintin
therefore argued that he got his citizenship from Leoncio, his father. But the Supreme Court
said that there was no valid proof that Leoncio was in fact the son of a Filipina mother. The
Court therefore concluded that Leoncio was not Filipino. If Leoncio was not Filipino, neither
was his son Quintin. Quintin therefore was not only not a natural-born Filipino but was not
even a Filipino.
"The Court should have stopped there. But instead it followed with an obiter dictum. The
Court said obiter that even if Leoncio, Quintin's father, were Filipino, Quintin would not be
Filipino because Quintin was illegitimate. This statement about Quintin, based on a contrary
to fact assumption, was absolutely unnecessary for the case. x x x It was obiter dictum, pure
and simple, simply repeating the obiter dictum in Morano vs. Vivo.
"x x x xxx xxx
"Aside from the fact that such a pronouncement would have no textual foundation in the
Constitution, it would also violate the equal protection clause of the Constitution not once but
twice. First, it would make an illegitimate distinction between a legitimate child and an
illegitimate child, and second, it would make an illegitimate distinction between the
illegitimate child of a Filipino father and the illegitimate child of a Filipino mother.
"The doctrine on constitutionally allowable distinctions was established long ago by People
vs. Cayat.47 I would grant that the distinction between legitimate children and illegitimate
children rests on real differences. x x x But real differences alone do not justify invidious
distinction. Real differences may justify distinction for one purpose but not for another
purpose.
"x x x What is the relevance of legitimacy or illegitimacy to elective public service? What
possible state interest can there be for disqualifying an illegitimate child from becoming a
public officer. It was not the fault of the child that his parents had illicit liaison. Why deprive
the child of the fullness of political rights for no fault of his own? To disqualify an illegitimate
child from holding an important public office is to punish him for the indiscretion of his
parents. There is neither justice nor rationality in that. And if there is neither justice nor
rationality in the distinction, then the distinction transgresses the equal protection clause and
must be reprobated."
The other amici curiae, Mr. Justice Vicente Mendoza (a former member of this Court), Professor Ruben Balane and
Dean Martin Magallona, at bottom, have expressed similar views. The thesis of petitioner, unfortunately hinging solely
on pure obiter dicta, should indeed fail.
Where jurisprudence regarded an illegitimate child as taking after the citizenship of its mother, it did so for the benefit
the child. It was to ensure a Filipino nationality for the illegitimate child of an alien father in line with the assumption
that the mother had custody, would exercise parental authority and had the duty to support her illegitimate child. It
was to help the child, not to prejudice or discriminate against him.
The fact of the matter perhaps the most significant consideration is that the 1935 Constitution, the fundamental
law prevailing on the day, month and year of birth of respondent FPJ, can never be more explicit than it is. Providing
neither conditions nor distinctions, the Constitution states that among the citizens of the Philippines are "those whose
fathers are citizens of the Philippines." There utterly is no cogent justification to prescribe conditions or distinctions
where there clearly are none provided.
In Sum
(1) The Court, in the exercise of its power of judicial review, possesses jurisdiction over the
petition in G. R. No. 161824, filed under Rule 64, in relation to Rule 65, of the Revised Rules
of Civil Procedure. G.R. No. 161824 assails the resolution of the COMELEC for alleged
grave abuse of discretion in dismissing, for lack of merit, the petition in SPA No. 04-003
which has prayed for the disqualification of respondent FPJ from running for the position of
President in the 10th May 2004 national elections on the contention that FPJ has committed
material representation in his certificate of candidacy by representing himself to be a natural-
born citizen of the Philippines.
 (2) The Court must dismiss, for lack of jurisdiction and prematurity, the petitions in G. R. No.
161434 and No. 161634 both having been directly elevated to this Court in the latters
capacity as the only tribunal to resolve a presidential and vice-presidential election contest
under the Constitution. Evidently, the primary jurisdiction of the Court can directly be invoked
only after, not before, the elections are held.

(3) In ascertaining, in G.R. No. 161824, whether grave abuse of discretion has been
committed by the COMELEC, it is necessary to take on the matter of whether or not
respondent FPJ is a natural-born citizen, which, in turn, depended on whether or not the
father of respondent, Allan F. Poe, would have himself been a Filipino citizen and, in the
affirmative, whether or not the alleged illegitimacy of respondent prevents him from taking
after the Filipino citizenship of his putative father. Any conclusion on the Filipino citizenship
of Lorenzo Pou could only be drawn from the presumption that having died in 1954 at 84
years old, Lorenzo would have been born sometime in the year 1870, when the Philippines
was under Spanish rule, and that San Carlos, Pangasinan, his place of residence upon his
death in 1954, in the absence of any other evidence, could have well been his place of
residence before death, such that Lorenzo Pou would have benefited from the "en masse
Filipinization" that the Philippine Bill had effected in 1902. That citizenship (of Lorenzo Pou),
if acquired, would thereby extend to his son, Allan F. Poe, father of respondent FPJ. The
1935 Constitution, during which regime respondent FPJ has seen first light, confers
citizenship to all persons whose fathers are Filipino citizens regardless of whether such
children are legitimate or illegitimate.

(4) But while the totality of the evidence may not establish conclusively that respondent FPJ
is a natural-born citizen of the Philippines, the evidence on hand still would preponderate in
his favor enough to hold that he cannot be held guilty of having made a material
misrepresentation in his certificate of candidacy in violation of Section 78, in relation to
Section 74, of the Omnibus Election Code. Petitioner has utterly failed to substantiate his
case before the Court, notwithstanding the ample opportunity given to the parties to present
their position and evidence, and to prove whether or not there has been material
misrepresentation, which, as so ruled in Romualdez-Marcos vs. COMELEC,48 must not only
be material, but also deliberate and willful.

WHEREFORE, the Court RESOLVES to DISMISS

1. G. R. No. 161434, entitled "Maria Jeanette C. Tecson and Felix B. Desiderio, Jr.,
Petitioners, versus Commission on Elections, Ronald Allan Kelley Poe (a.k.a. "Fernando
Poe, Jr.,) and Victorino X. Fornier, Respondents," and G. R. No. 161634, entitled "Zoilo
Antonio Velez, Petitioner, versus Ronald Allan Kelley Poe, a.k.a. Fernando Poe, Jr.,
Respondent," for want of jurisdiction.

2. G. R. No. 161824, entitled "Victorino X. Fornier, Petitioner, versus Hon. Commission on

Elections and Ronald Allan Kelley Poe, also known as Fernando Poe, Jr.," for failure to show
grave abuse of discretion on the part of respondent Commission on Elections in dismissing
the petition in SPA No. 04-003.

No Costs.

SO ORDERED.
 EN BANC
March 8, 2016
G.R. No. 221697
MARY GRACE NATIVIDAD S. POE-LLAMANZARES, Petitioners,
vs.
COMELEC AND ESTRELLA C. ELAMPARO Respondents.
x-----------------------x
G.R. No. 221698-700
MARY GRACE NATIVIDAD S. POE-LLAMANZARES, Petitioners,
vs.
COMELEC, FRANCISCO S. TATAD, ANTONIO P. CONTRERAS AND AMADO D. VALDEZ Respondents.
DECISION
PEREZ, J.:
Before the Court are two consolidated petitions under Rule 64 in relation to Rule 65 of the Rules of Court with
extremely urgent application for an ex parte issuance of temporary restraining order/status quo ante order and/or writ
of preliminary injunction assailing the following: (1) 1 December 2015 Resolution of the Commission on Elections
(COMELEC) Second Division; (2) 23 December 2015 Resolution of the COMELEC En Banc, in SPA No. 15-001
(DC); (3) 11 December 2015 Resolution of the COMELEC First Division; and ( 4) 23 December 2015 Resolution of
the COMELEC En Banc, in SPA No. 15-002 (DC), SPA No. 15-007 (DC) and SPA No. 15-139 (DC) for having been
issued without jurisdiction or with grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction.
The Facts
Mary Grace Natividad S. Poe-Llamanzares (petitioner) was found abandoned as a newborn infant in the Parish
Church of Jaro, Iloilo by a certain Edgardo Militar (Edgardo) on 3 September 1968. Parental care and custody over
petitioner was passed on by Edgardo to his relatives, Emiliano Militar (Emiliano) and his wife. Three days after, 6
September 1968, Emiliano reported and registered petitioner as a foundling with the Office of the Civil Registrar of
Iloilo City (OCR-Iloilo). In her Foundling Certificate and Certificate of Live Birth, the petitioner was given the name
"Mary Grace Natividad Contreras Militar." 1
When petitioner was five (5) years old, celebrity spouses Ronald Allan Kelley Poe (a.k.a. Fenando Poe, Jr.) and
Jesusa Sonora Poe (a.k.a. Susan Roces) filed a petition for her adoption with the Municipal Trial Court (MTC) of San
Juan City. On 13 May 1974, the trial court granted their petition and ordered that petitioner's name be changed from
"Mary Grace Natividad Contreras Militar" to "Mary Grace Natividad Sonora Poe." Although necessary notations were
made by OCR-Iloilo on petitioner's foundling certificate reflecting the court decreed adoption,2 the petitioner's adoptive
mother discovered only sometime in the second half of 2005 that the lawyer who handled petitioner's adoption failed
to secure from the OCR-Iloilo a new Certificate of Live Birth indicating petitioner's new name and the name of her
adoptive parents. 3 Without delay, petitioner's mother executed an affidavit attesting to the lawyer's omission which
she submitted to the OCR-Iloilo. On 4 May 2006, OCR-Iloilo issued a new Certificate of Live Birth in the name of Mary
Grace Natividad Sonora Poe.4
Having reached the age of eighteen (18) years in 1986, petitioner registered as a voter with the local COMELEC
Office in San Juan City. On 13 December 1986, she received her COMELEC Voter's Identification Card for Precinct
No. 196 in Greenhills, San Juan, Metro Manila.5
On 4 April 1988, petitioner applied for and was issued Philippine Passport No. F927287 6 by the Department of
Foreign Affairs (DFA). Subsequently, on 5 April 1993 and 19 May 1998, she renewed her Philippine passport and
respectively secured Philippine Passport Nos. L881511 and DD156616.7
Initially, the petitioner enrolled and pursued a degree in Development Studies at the University of the Philippines8 but
she opted to continue her studies abroad and left for the United States of America (U.S.) in 1988. Petitioner
graduated in 1991 from Boston College in Chestnuts Hill, Massachusetts where she earned her Bachelor of Arts
degree in Political Studies.9
On 27 July 1991, petitioner married Teodoro Misael Daniel V. Llamanzares (Llamanzares), a citizen of both the
Philippines and the U.S., at Sanctuario de San Jose Parish in San Juan City. 10 Desirous of being with her husband
who was then based in the U.S., the couple flew back to the U.S. two days after the wedding ceremony or on 29 July
1991. 11
While in the U.S., the petitioner gave birth to her eldest child Brian Daniel (Brian) on 16 April 1992.12 Her two
daughters Hanna MacKenzie (Hanna) and Jesusa Anika (Anika) were both born in the Philippines on 10 July 1998
and 5 June 2004, respectively. 13
On 18 October 2001, petitioner became a naturalized American citizen. 14 She obtained U.S. Passport No.
017037793 on 19 December 2001. 15
On 8 April 2004, the petitioner came back to the Philippines together with Hanna to support her father's candidacy for
President in the May 2004 elections. It was during this time that she gave birth to her youngest daughter Anika. She
returned to the U.S. with her two daughters on 8 July 2004. 16
After a few months, specifically on 13 December 2004, petitioner rushed back to the Philippines upon learning of her
father's deteriorating medical condition. 17 Her father slipped into a coma and eventually expired. The petitioner
stayed in the country until 3 February 2005 to take care of her father's funeral arrangements as well as to assist in the
settlement of his estate.18
According to the petitioner, the untimely demise of her father was a severe blow to her entire family. In her earnest
desire to be with her grieving mother, the petitioner and her husband decided to move and reside permanently in the
Philippines sometime in the first quarter of 2005.19 The couple began preparing for their resettlement including
notification of their children's schools that they will be transferring to Philippine schools for the next semester;20
coordination with property movers for the relocation of their household goods, furniture and cars from the U.S. to the
Philippines;21 and inquiry with Philippine authorities as to the proper procedure to be followed in bringing their pet dog
into the country.22 As early as 2004, the petitioner already quit her job in the U.S.23
Finally, petitioner came home to the Philippines on 24 May 200524 and without delay, secured a Tax Identification
Number from the Bureau of Internal Revenue. Her three (3) children immediately followed25 while her husband was
forced to stay in the U.S. to complete pending projects as well as to arrange the sale of their family home there.26
The petitioner and her children briefly stayed at her mother's place until she and her husband purchased a
condominium unit with a parking slot at One Wilson Place Condominium in San Juan City in the second half of
2005.27 The corresponding Condominium Certificates of Title covering the unit and parking slot were issued by the
Register of Deeds of San Juan City to petitioner and her husband on 20 February 2006.28 Meanwhile, her children of
school age began attending Philippine private schools.
On 14 February 2006, the petitioner made a quick trip to the U.S. to supervise the disposal of some of the family's
remaining household belongings.29 She travelled back to the Philippines on 11 March 2006.30
In late March 2006, petitioner's husband officially informed the U.S. Postal Service of the family's change and
abandonment of their address in the U.S.31 The family home was eventually sold on 27 April 2006.32 Petitioner's
husband resigned from his job in the U.S. in April 2006, arrived in the country on 4 May 2006 and started working for
a major Philippine company in July 2006.33
In early 2006, petitioner and her husband acquired a 509-square meter lot in Corinthian Hills, Quezon City where they
built their family home34 and to this day, is where the couple and their children have been residing.35 A Transfer
Certificate of Title covering said property was issued in the couple's name by the Register of Deeds of Quezon City on
1June 2006.
On 7 July 2006, petitioner took her Oath of Allegiance to the Republic of the Philippines pursuant to Republic Act
(R.A.) No. 9225 or the Citizenship Retention and Re-acquisition Act of 2003.36 Under the same Act, she filed with the
Bureau of Immigration (BI) a sworn petition to reacquire Philippine citizenship together with petitions for derivative
citizenship on behalf of her three minor children on 10 July 2006.37 As can be gathered from its 18 July 2006 Order,
the BI acted favorably on petitioner's petitions and declared that she is deemed to have reacquired her Philippine
citizenship while her children are considered as citizens of the Philippines.38 Consequently, the BI issued Identification
Certificates (ICs) in petitioner's name and in the names of her three (3) children. 39
Again, petitioner registered as a voter of Barangay Santa Lucia, San Juan City on 31 August 2006.40 She also
secured from the DFA a new Philippine Passport bearing the No. XX4731999.41 This passport was renewed on 18
March 2014 and she was issued Philippine Passport No. EC0588861 by the DFA.42
On 6 October 2010, President Benigno S. Aquino III appointed petitioner as Chairperson of the Movie and Television
Review and Classification Board (MTRCB).43 Before assuming her post, petitioner executed an "Affidavit of
Renunciation of Allegiance to the United States of America and Renunciation of American Citizenship" before a
notary public in Pasig City on 20 October 2010,44 in satisfaction of the legal requisites stated in Section 5 of R.A. No.
9225.45 The following day, 21 October 2010 petitioner submitted the said affidavit to the BI46 and took her oath of
office as Chairperson of the MTRCB.47 From then on, petitioner stopped using her American passport.48
On 12 July 2011, the petitioner executed before the Vice Consul of the U.S. Embassy in Manila an "Oath/Affirmation
of Renunciation of Nationality of the United States."49 On that day, she accomplished a sworn questionnaire before
the U.S. Vice Consul wherein she stated that she had taken her oath as MTRCB Chairperson on 21 October 2010
with the intent, among others, of relinquishing her American citizenship.50 In the same questionnaire, the petitioner
stated that she had resided outside of the U.S., specifically in the Philippines, from 3 September 1968 to 29 July 1991
and from May 2005 to present.51
On 9 December 2011, the U.S. Vice Consul issued to petitioner a "Certificate of Loss of Nationality of the United
States" effective 21 October 2010.52
On 2 October 2012, the petitioner filed with the COMELEC her Certificate of Candidacy (COC) for Senator for the
2013 Elections wherein she answered "6 years and 6 months" to the question "Period of residence in the Philippines
before May 13, 2013."53 Petitioner obtained the highest number of votes and was proclaimed Senator on 16 May
2013. 54
On 19 December 2013, petitioner obtained Philippine Diplomatic Passport No. DE0004530. 55
On 15 October 2015, petitioner filed her COC for the Presidency for the May 2016 Elections. 56 In her COC, the
petitioner declared that she is a natural-born citizen and that her residence in the Philippines up to the day before 9
May 2016 would be ten (10) years and eleven (11) months counted from 24 May 2005.57 The petitioner attached to
her COC an "Affidavit Affirming Renunciation of U.S.A. Citizenship" subscribed and sworn to before a notary public in
Quezon City on 14 October 2015. 58
Petitioner's filing of her COC for President in the upcoming elections triggered the filing of several COMELEC cases
against her which were the subject of these consolidated cases.
Origin of Petition for Certiorari in G.R. No. 221697
A day after petitioner filed her COC for President, Estrella Elamparo (Elamparo) filed a petition to deny due course or
cancel said COC which was docketed as SPA No. 15-001 (DC) and raffled to the COMELEC Second Division.59 She
is convinced that the COMELEC has jurisdiction over her petition.60 Essentially, Elamparo's contention is that
petitioner committed material misrepresentation when she stated in her COC that she is a natural-born Filipino citizen
and that she is a resident of the Philippines for at least ten (10) years and eleven (11) months up to the day before the
9 May 2016 Elections.61
On the issue of citizenship, Elamparo argued that petitioner cannot be considered as a natural-born Filipino on
account of the fact that she was a foundling.62 Elamparo claimed that international law does not confer natural-born
status and Filipino citizenship on foundlings.63 Following this line of reasoning, petitioner is not qualified to apply for
reacquisition of Filipino citizenship under R.A. No. 9225 for she is not a natural-born Filipino citizen to begin with.64
Even assuming arguendo that petitioner was a natural-born Filipino, she is deemed to have lost that status when she
became a naturalized American citizen.65 According to Elamparo, natural-born citizenship must be continuous from
birth.66
On the matter of petitioner's residency, Elamparo pointed out that petitioner was bound by the sworn declaration she
made in her 2012 COC for Senator wherein she indicated that she had resided in the country for only six ( 6) years
and six ( 6) months as of May 2013 Elections. Elamparo likewise insisted that assuming arguendo that petitioner is
qualified to regain her natural-born status under R.A. No. 9225, she still fell short of the ten-year residency
requirement of the Constitution as her residence could only be counted at the earliest from July 2006, when she
reacquired Philippine citizenship under the said Act. Also on the assumption that petitioner is qualified to reacquire
lost Philippine Citizenship, Elamparo is of the belief that she failed to reestablish her domicile in the Philippines.67
Petitioner seasonably filed her Answer wherein she countered that:
(1) the COMELEC did not have jurisdiction over Elamparo's petition as it was actually a petition for quo
warranto which could only be filed if Grace Poe wins in the Presidential elections, and that the
Department of Justice (DOJ) has primary jurisdiction to revoke the BI's July 18, 2006 Order;
(2) the petition failed to state a cause of action because it did not contain allegations which, if
hypothetically admitted, would make false the statement in her COC that she is a natural-born Filipino
citizen nor was there any allegation that there was a willful or deliberate intent to misrepresent on her
part;
(3) she did not make any material misrepresentation in the COC regarding her citizenship and residency
qualifications for:
a. the 1934 Constitutional Convention deliberations show that foundlings were considered
citizens;
b. foundlings are presumed under international law to have been born of citizens of the place
where they are found;
c. she reacquired her natural-born Philippine citizenship under the provisions of R.A. No.
9225;
d. she executed a sworn renunciation of her American citizenship prior to the filing of her
COC for President in the May 9, 2016 Elections and that the same is in full force and effect
and has not been withdrawn or recanted;
e. the burden was on Elamparo in proving that she did not possess natural-born status;
f. residence is a matter of evidence and that she reestablished her domicile in the Philippines
as early as May 24, 2005;
g. she could reestablish residence even before she reacquired natural-born citizenship under
R.A. No. 9225;
h. statement regarding the period of residence in her 2012 COC for Senator was an honest
mistake, not binding and should give way to evidence on her true date of reacquisition of
domicile;
i. Elamparo's petition is merely an action to usurp the sovereign right of the Filipino people to
decide a purely political question, that is, should she serve as the country's next leader.68
After the parties submitted their respective Memoranda, the petition was deemed submitted for resolution.
On 1 December 2015, the COMELEC Second Division promulgated a Resolution finding that petitioner's COC, filed
for the purpose of running for the President of the Republic of the Philippines in the 9 May 2016 National and Local
Elections, contained material representations which are false. The fallo of the aforesaid Resolution reads:
WHEREFORE, in view of all the foregoing considerations, the instant Petition to Deny Due Course to or Cancel
Certificate of Candidacy is hereby GRANTED. Accordingly, the Certificate of Candidacy for President of the Republic
of the Philippines in the May 9, 2016 National and Local Elections filed by respondent Mary Grace Natividad Sonora
Poe Llamanzares is hereby CANCELLED.69
Motion for Reconsideration of the 1 December 2015 Resolution was filed by petitioner which the COMELEC En Banc
resolved in its 23 December 2015 Resolution by denying the same.70
Origin of Petition for Certiorari in G.R. Nos. 221698-700
This case stemmed from three (3) separate petitions filed by Francisco S. Tatad (Tatad), Antonio P. Contreras
(Contreras) and Amado D. Valdez (Valdez) against petitioner before the COMELEC which were consolidated and
raffled to its First Division.
In his petition to disqualify petitioner under Rule 25 of the COMELEC Rules of Procedure,71 docketed as SPA No. 15-
002 (DC), Tatad alleged that petitioner lacks the requisite residency and citizenship to qualify her for the Presidency.72
Tatad theorized that since the Philippines adheres to the principle of jus sanguinis, persons of unknown parentage,
particularly foundlings, cannot be considered natural-born Filipino citizens since blood relationship is determinative of
natural-born status.73 Tatad invoked the rule of statutory construction that what is not included is excluded. He
averred that the fact that foundlings were not expressly included in the categories of citizens in the 193 5 Constitution
is indicative of the framers' intent to exclude them.74 Therefore, the burden lies on petitioner to prove that she is a
natural-born citizen.75
Neither can petitioner seek refuge under international conventions or treaties to support her claim that foundlings
have a nationality.76 According to Tatad, international conventions and treaties are not self-executory and that local
legislations are necessary in order to give effect to treaty obligations assumed by the Philippines.77 He also stressed
that there is no standard state practice that automatically confers natural-born status to foundlings.78
Similar to Elamparo's argument, Tatad claimed that petitioner cannot avail of the option to reacquire Philippine
citizenship under R.A. No. 9225 because it only applies to former natural-born citizens and petitioner was not as she
was a foundling.79
Referring to petitioner's COC for Senator, Tatad concluded that she did not comply with the ten (10) year residency
requirement.80 Tatad opined that petitioner acquired her domicile in Quezon City only from the time she renounced
her American citizenship which was sometime in 2010 or 2011.81 Additionally, Tatad questioned petitioner's lack of
intention to abandon her U.S. domicile as evinced by the fact that her husband stayed thereat and her frequent trips
to the U.S.82
In support of his petition to deny due course or cancel the COC of petitioner, docketed as SPA No. 15-139 (DC),
Valdez alleged that her repatriation under R.A. No. 9225 did not bestow upon her the status of a natural-born
citizen.83 He advanced the view that former natural-born citizens who are repatriated under the said Act reacquires
only their Philippine citizenship and will not revert to their original status as natural-born citizens.84
He further argued that petitioner's own admission in her COC for Senator that she had only been a resident of the
Philippines for at least six (6) years and six (6) months prior to the 13 May 2013 Elections operates against her.
Valdez rejected petitioner's claim that she could have validly reestablished her domicile in the Philippines prior to her
reacquisition of Philippine citizenship. In effect, his position was that petitioner did not meet the ten (10) year
residency requirement for President.
Unlike the previous COMELEC cases filed against petitioner, Contreras' petition,85 docketed as SPA No. 15-007 (DC),
limited the attack to the residency issue. He claimed that petitioner's 2015 COC for President should be cancelled on
the ground that she did not possess the ten-year period of residency required for said candidacy and that she made
false entry in her COC when she stated that she is a legal resident of the Philippines for ten (10) years and eleven
(11) months by 9 May 2016.86 Contreras contended that the reckoning period for computing petitioner's residency in
the Philippines should be from 18 July 2006, the date when her petition to reacquire Philippine citizenship was
approved by the BI.87 He asserted that petitioner's physical presence in the country before 18 July 2006 could not be
valid evidence of reacquisition of her Philippine domicile since she was then living here as an American citizen and as
such, she was governed by the Philippine immigration laws.88
In her defense, petitioner raised the following arguments:
First, Tatad's petition should be dismissed outright for failure to state a cause of action. His petition did not invoke
grounds proper for a disqualification case as enumerated under Sections 12 and 68 of the Omnibus Election Code.89
Instead, Tatad completely relied on the alleged lack of residency and natural-born status of petitioner which are not
among the recognized grounds for the disqualification of a candidate to an elective office.90
Second, the petitions filed against her are basically petitions for quo warranto as they focus on establishing her
ineligibility for the Presidency.91 A petition for quo warranto falls within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Presidential
Electoral Tribunal (PET) and not the COMELEC.92
Third, the burden to prove that she is not a natural-born Filipino citizen is on the respondents.93 Otherwise stated, she
has a presumption in her favor that she is a natural-born citizen of this country.
Fourth, customary international law dictates that foundlings are entitled to a nationality and are presumed to be
citizens of the country where they are found.94 Consequently, the petitioner is considered as a natural-born citizen of
the Philippines.95
Fifth, she claimed that as a natural-born citizen, she has every right to be repatriated under R.A. No. 9225 or the right
to reacquire her natural-born status.96 Moreover, the official acts of the Philippine Government enjoy the presumption
of regularity, to wit: the issuance of the 18 July 2006 Order of the BI declaring her as natural-born citizen, her
appointment as MTRCB Chair and the issuance of the decree of adoption of San Juan RTC.97 She believed that all
these acts reinforced her position that she is a natural-born citizen of the Philippines.98
Sixth, she maintained that as early as the first quarter of 2005, she started reestablishing her domicile of choice in the
Philippines as demonstrated by her children's resettlement and schooling in the country, purchase of a condominium
unit in San Juan City and the construction of their family home in Corinthian Hills.99
Seventh, she insisted that she could legally reestablish her domicile of choice in the Philippines even before she
renounced her American citizenship as long as the three determinants for a change of domicile are complied with.100
She reasoned out that there was no requirement that renunciation of foreign citizenship is a prerequisite for the
acquisition of a new domicile of choice.101
Eighth, she reiterated that the period appearing in the residency portion of her COC for Senator was a mistake made
in good faith.102
In a Resolution103 promulgated on 11 December 2015, the COMELEC First Division ruled that petitioner is not a
natural-born citizen, that she failed to complete the ten (10) year residency requirement, and that she committed
material misrepresentation in her COC when she declared therein that she has been a resident of the Philippines for
a period of ten (10) years and eleven (11) months as of the day of the elections on 9 May 2016. The COMELEC First
Division concluded that she is not qualified for the elective position of President of the Republic of the Philippines. The
dispositive portion of said Resolution reads:
WHEREFORE, premises considered, the Commission RESOLVED, as it hereby RESOLVES, to GRANT the Petitions
and cancel the Certificate of Candidacy of MARY GRACE NATIVIDAD SONORA POE-LLAMANZARES for the
elective position of President of the Republic of the Philippines in connection with the 9 May 2016 Synchronized Local
and National Elections.
Petitioner filed a motion for reconsideration seeking a reversal of the COMELEC First Division's Resolution. On 23
December 2015, the COMELEC En Banc issued a Resolution denying petitioner's motion for reconsideration.
Alarmed by the adverse rulings of the COMELEC, petitioner instituted the present petitions for certiorari with urgent
prayer for the issuance of an ex parte temporary restraining order/status quo ante order and/or writ of preliminary
injunction. On 28 December 2015, temporary restraining orders were issued by the Court enjoining the COMELEC
and its representatives from implementing the assailed COMELEC Resolutions until further orders from the Court.
The Court also ordered the consolidation of the two petitions filed by petitioner in its Resolution of 12 January 2016.
Thereafter, oral arguments were held in these cases.
The Court GRANTS the petition of Mary Grace Natividad S. Poe-Llamanzares and to ANNUL and SET ASIDE the:
1. Resolution dated 1 December 2015 rendered through its Second Division, in SPA No. 15-001 (DC),
entitled Estrella C. Elamparo, petitioner, vs. Mary Grace Natividad Sonora Poe-Llamanzares.
2. Resolution dated 11 December 2015, rendered through its First Division, in the consolidated cases
SPA No. 15-002 (DC) entitled Francisco S. Tatad, petitioner, vs. Mary Grace Natividad Sonora Poe-
Llamanzares, respondent; SPA No. 15-007 (DC) entitled Antonio P. Contreras, petitioner, vs. Mary Grace
Natividad Sonora Poe-Llamanzares, respondent; and SPA No. 15-139 (DC) entitled Amado D. Valdez,
petitioner, v. Mary Grace Natividad Sonora Poe-Llamanzares, respondent.
3. Resolution dated 23 December 2015 of the Commission En Banc, upholding the 1 December 2015
Resolution of the Second Division.
 4. Resolution dated 23 December 2015 of the Commission En Banc, upholding the 11 December 2015
Resolution of the First Division.
The procedure and the conclusions from which the questioned Resolutions emanated are tainted with grave abuse of
discretion amounting to lack of jurisdiction. The petitioner is a QUALIFIED CANDIDATE for President in the 9 May
2016 National Elections.
The issue before the COMELEC is whether or not the COC of petitioner should be denied due course or cancelled
"on the exclusive ground" that she made in the certificate a false material representation. The exclusivity of the
ground should hedge in the discretion of the COMELEC and restrain it from going into the issue of the qualifications
of the candidate for the position, if, as in this case, such issue is yet undecided or undetermined by the proper
authority. The COMELEC cannot itself, in the same cancellation case, decide the qualification or lack thereof of the
candidate.
We rely, first of all, on the Constitution of our Republic, particularly its provisions in Article IX, C, Section 2:
Section 2. The Commission on Elections shall exercise the following powers and functions:
(1) Enforce and administer all laws and regulations relative to the conduct of an election, plebiscite,
initiative, referendum, and recall.
(2) Exercise exclusive original jurisdiction over all contests relating to the elections, returns, and
qualifications of all elective regional, provincial, and city officials, and appellate jurisdiction over all
contests involving elective municipal officials decided by trial courts of general jurisdiction, or involving
elective barangay officials decided by trial courts of limited jurisdiction.
Decisions, final orders, or rulings of the Commission on election contests involving elective municipal and
barangay offices shall be final, executory, and not appealable.
(3) Decide, except those involving the right to vote, all questions affecting elections, including
determination of the number and location of polling places, appointment of election officials and
inspectors, and registration of voters.
(4) Deputize, with the concurrence of the President, law enforcement agencies and instrumentalities of
the Government, including the Armed Forces of the Philippines, for the exclusive purpose of ensuring
free, orderly, honest, peaceful, and credible elections.
(5) Register, after sufficient publication, political parties, organizations, or coalitions which, in addition to
other requirements, must present their platform or program of government; and accredit citizens' arms of
the Commission on Elections. Religious denominations and sects shall not be registered. Those which
seek to achieve their goals through violence or unlawful means, or refuse to uphold and adhere to this
Constitution, or which are supported by any foreign government shall likewise be refused registration.
Financial contributions from foreign governments and their agencies to political parties, organizations,
coalitions, or candidates related to elections constitute interference in national affairs, and, when
accepted, shall be an additional ground for the cancellation of their registration with the Commission, in
addition to other penalties that may be prescribed by law.
(6) File, upon a verified complaint, or on its own initiative, petitions in court for inclusion or exclusion of
voters; investigate and, where appropriate, prosecute cases of violations of election laws, including acts
or omissions constituting election frauds, offenses, and malpractices.
(7) Recommend to the Congress effective measures to minimize election spending, including limitation of
places where propaganda materials shall be posted, and to prevent and penalize all forms of election
frauds, offenses, malpractices, and nuisance candidacies.
(8) Recommend to the President the removal of any officer or employee it has deputized, or the
imposition of any other disciplinary action, for violation or disregard of, or disobedience to its directive,
order, or decision.
(9) Submit to the President and the Congress a comprehensive report on the conduct of each election,
plebiscite, initiative, referendum, or recall.
Not any one of the enumerated powers approximate the exactitude of the provisions of Article VI, Section 17 of the
same basic law stating that:
The Senate and the House of Representatives shall each have an Electoral Tribunal which shall be the
sole judge of all contests relating to the election, returns, and qualifications of their respective Members.
Each Electoral Tribunal shall be composed of nine Members, three of whom shall be Justices of the
Supreme Court to be designated by the Chief Justice, and the remaining six shall be Members of the
Senate or the House of Representatives, as the case may be, who shall be chosen on the basis of
proportional representation from the political parties and the parties or organizations registered under the
party-list system represented therein. The senior Justice in the Electoral Tribunal shall be its Chairman.
or of the last paragraph of Article VII, Section 4 which provides that:
The Supreme Court, sitting en banc, shall be the sole judge of all contests relating to the election,
returns, and qualifications of the President or Vice-President, and may promulgate its rules for the
purpose.
The tribunals which have jurisdiction over the question of the qualifications of the President, the Vice-President,
Senators and the Members of the House of Representatives was made clear by the Constitution. There is no such
provision for candidates for these positions.
Can the COMELEC be such judge?
The opinion of Justice Vicente V. Mendoza in Romualdez-Marcos v. Commission on Elections,104 which was
affirmatively cited in the En Banc decision in Fermin v. COMELEC105 is our guide. The citation in Fermin reads:
Apparently realizing the lack of an authorized proceeding for declaring the ineligibility of candidates, the COMELEC
amended its rules on February 15, 1993 so as to provide in Rule 25 1, the following:
Grounds for disqualification. - Any candidate who does not possess all the qualifications of a candidate
as provided for by the Constitution or by existing law or who commits any act declared by law to be
grounds for disqualification may be disqualified from continuing as a candidate.
The lack of provision for declaring the ineligibility of candidates, however, cannot be supplied by a mere rule. Such an
act is equivalent to the creation of a cause of action which is a substantive matter which the COMELEC, in the
exercise of its rule-making power under Art. IX, A, 6 of the Constitution, cannot do it. It is noteworthy that the
Constitution withholds from the COMELEC even the power to decide cases involving the right to vote, which
essentially involves an inquiry into qualifications based on age, residence and citizenship of voters. [Art. IX, C, 2(3)]
The assimilation in Rule 25 of the COMELEC rules of grounds for ineligibility into grounds for disqualification is
contrary to the evident intention of the law. For not only in their grounds but also in their consequences are
proceedings for "disqualification" different from those for a declaration of "ineligibility." "Disqualification" proceedings,
as already stated, are based on grounds specified in 12 and 68 of the Omnibus Election Code and in 40 of the
Local Government Code and are for the purpose of barring an individual from becoming a candidate or from
continuing as a candidate for public office. In a word, their purpose is to eliminate a candidate from the race either
from the start or during its progress. "Ineligibility," on the other hand, refers to the lack of the qualifications prescribed
in the Constitution or the statutes for holding public office and the purpose of the proceedings for declaration of
ineligibility is to remove the incumbent from office.
Consequently, that an individual possesses the qualifications for a public office does not imply that he is not
disqualified from becoming a candidate or continuing as a candidate for a public office and vice versa. We have this
sort of dichotomy in our Naturalization Law. (C.A. No. 473) That an alien has the qualifications prescribed in 2 of the
Law does not imply that he does not suffer from any of [the] disqualifications provided in 4.
Before we get derailed by the distinction as to grounds and the consequences of the respective proceedings, the
importance of the opinion is in its statement that "the lack of provision for declaring the ineligibility of candidates,
however, cannot be supplied by a mere rule". Justice Mendoza lectured in Romualdez-Marcos that:
Three reasons may be cited to explain the absence of an authorized proceeding for determining before election the
qualifications of a candidate.
First is the fact that unless a candidate wins and is proclaimed elected, there is no necessity for determining his
eligibility for the office. In contrast, whether an individual should be disqualified as a candidate for acts constituting
election offenses (e.g., vote buying, over spending, commission of prohibited acts) is a prejudicial question which
should be determined lest he wins because of the very acts for which his disqualification is being sought. That is why
it is provided that if the grounds for disqualification are established, a candidate will not be voted for; if he has been
voted for, the votes in his favor will not be counted; and if for some reason he has been voted for and he has won,
either he will not be proclaimed or his proclamation will be set aside.
Second is the fact that the determination of a candidates' eligibility, e.g., his citizenship or, as in this case, his
domicile, may take a long time to make, extending beyond the beginning of the term of the office. This is amply
demonstrated in the companion case (G.R. No. 120265, Agapito A. Aquino v. COMELEC) where the determination of
Aquino's residence was still pending in the COMELEC even after the elections of May 8, 1995. This is contrary to the
summary character proceedings relating to certificates of candidacy. That is why the law makes the receipt of
certificates of candidacy a ministerial duty of the COMELEC and its officers. The law is satisfied if candidates state in
their certificates of candidacy that they are eligible for the position which they seek to fill, leaving the determination of
their qualifications to be made after the election and only in the event they are elected. Only in cases involving
charges of false representations made in certificates of candidacy is the COMELEC given jurisdiction.
Third is the policy underlying the prohibition against pre-proclamation cases in elections for President, Vice President,
Senators and members of the House of Representatives. (R.A. No. 7166, 15) The purpose is to preserve the
prerogatives of the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal and the other Tribunals as "sole judges" under the
Constitution of the election, returns and qualifications of members of Congress of the President and Vice President,
as the case may be.106
To be sure, the authoritativeness of the Romualdez pronouncements as reiterated in Fermin, led to the amendment
through COMELEC Resolution No. 9523, on 25 September 2012 of its Rule 25. This, the 15 February1993 version of
Rule 25, which states that:
Grounds for disqualification. -Any candidate who does not possess all the qualifications of a candidate as provided for
by the Constitution or by existing law or who commits any act declared by law to be grounds for disqualification may
be disqualified from continuing as a candidate.107
was in the 2012 rendition, drastically changed to:
Grounds. - Any candidate who, in action or protest in which he is a party, is declared by final decision of a competent
court, guilty of, or found by the Commission to be suffering from any disqualification provided by law or the
Constitution.
A Petition to Disqualify a Candidate invoking grounds for a Petition to Deny to or Cancel a Certificate of Candidacy or
Petition to Declare a Candidate as a Nuisance Candidate, or a combination thereof, shall be summarily dismissed.
Clearly, the amendment done in 2012 is an acceptance of the reality of absence of an authorized proceeding for
determining before election the qualifications of candidate. Such that, as presently required, to disqualify a candidate
there must be a declaration by a final judgment of a competent court that the candidate sought to be disqualified "is
guilty of or found by the Commission to be suffering from any disqualification provided by law or the Constitution."
Insofar as the qualification of a candidate is concerned, Rule 25 and Rule 23 are flipsides of one to the other. Both do
not allow, are not authorizations, are not vestment of jurisdiction, for the COMELEC to determine the qualification of a
candidate. The facts of qualification must beforehand be established in a prior proceeding before an authority properly
vested with jurisdiction. The prior determination of qualification may be by statute, by executive order or by a
judgment of a competent court or tribunal.
If a candidate cannot be disqualified without a prior finding that he or she is suffering from a disqualification "provided
by law or the Constitution," neither can the certificate of candidacy be cancelled or denied due course on grounds of
false representations regarding his or her qualifications, without a prior authoritative finding that he or she is not
qualified, such prior authority being the necessary measure by which the falsity of the representation can be found.
The only exception that can be conceded are self-evident facts of unquestioned or unquestionable veracity and
judicial confessions. Such are, anyway, bases equivalent to prior decisions against which the falsity of representation
can be determined.
The need for a predicate finding or final pronouncement in a proceeding under Rule 23 that deals with, as in this
case, alleged false representations regarding the candidate's citizenship and residence, forced the COMELEC to rule
essentially that since foundlings108 are not mentioned in the enumeration of citizens under the 1935 Constitution,109
they then cannot be citizens. As the COMELEC stated in oral arguments, when petitioner admitted that she is a
foundling, she said it all. This borders on bigotry. Oddly, in an effort at tolerance, the COMELEC, after saying that it
cannot rule that herein petitioner possesses blood relationship with a Filipino citizen when "it is certain that such
relationship is indemonstrable," proceeded to say that "she now has the burden to present evidence to prove her
natural filiation with a Filipino parent."
The fact is that petitioner's blood relationship with a Filipino citizen is DEMONSTRABLE.
At the outset, it must be noted that presumptions regarding paternity is neither unknown nor unaccepted in Philippine
Law. The Family Code of the Philippines has a whole chapter on Paternity and Filiation.110 That said, there is more
than sufficient evider1ce that petitioner has Filipino parents and is therefore a natural-born Filipino. Parenthetically,
the burden of proof was on private respondents to show that petitioner is not a Filipino citizen. The private
respondents should have shown that both of petitioner's parents were aliens. Her admission that she is a foundling
did not shift the burden to her because such status did not exclude the possibility that her parents were Filipinos,
especially as in this case where there is a high probability, if not certainty, that her parents are Filipinos.
The factual issue is not who the parents of petitioner are, as their identities are unknown, but whether such parents
are Filipinos. Under Section 4, Rule 128:
Sect. 4. Relevancy, collateral matters - Evidence must have such a relation to the fact in issue as to induce belief in
its existence or no-existence. Evidence on collateral matters shall not be allowed, except when it tends in any
reasonable degree to establish the probability of improbability of the fact in issue.
The Solicitor General offered official statistics from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)111 that from 1965 to 1975,
the total number of foreigners born in the Philippines was 15,986 while the total number of Filipinos born in the
country was 10,558,278. The statistical probability that any child born in the Philippines in that decade is natural-born
Filipino was 99.83%. For her part, petitioner presented census statistics for Iloilo Province for 1960 and 1970, also
from the PSA. In 1960, there were 962,532 Filipinos and 4,734 foreigners in the province; 99.62% of the population
were Filipinos. In 1970, the figures were 1,162,669 Filipinos and 5,304 foreigners, or 99.55%. Also presented were
figures for the child producing ages (15-49). In 1960, there were 230,528 female Filipinos as against 730 female
foreigners or 99.68%. In the same year, there were 210,349 Filipino males and 886 male aliens, or 99.58%. In 1970,
there were 270,299 Filipino females versus 1, 190 female aliens, or 99.56%. That same year, there were 245,740
Filipino males as against only 1,165 male aliens or 99.53%. COMELEC did not dispute these figures. Notably,
Commissioner Arthur Lim admitted, during the oral arguments, that at the time petitioner was found in 1968, the
majority of the population in Iloilo was Filipino.112
Other circumstantial evidence of the nationality of petitioner's parents are the fact that she was abandoned as an
infant in a Roman Catholic Church in Iloilo City.1wphi1 She also has typical Filipino features: height, flat nasal
bridge, straight black hair, almond shaped eyes and an oval face.
There is a disputable presumption that things have happened according to the ordinary course of nature and the
ordinary habits of life.113 All of the foregoing evidence, that a person with typical Filipino features is abandoned in
Catholic Church in a municipality where the population of the Philippines is overwhelmingly Filipinos such that there
would be more than a 99% chance that a child born in the province would be a Filipino, would indicate more than
ample probability if not statistical certainty, that petitioner's parents are Filipinos. That probability and the evidence on
which it is based are admissible under Rule 128, Section 4 of the Revised Rules on Evidence.
To assume otherwise is to accept the absurd, if not the virtually impossible, as the norm. In the words of the Solicitor
General:
Second. It is contrary to common sense because foreigners do not come to the Philippines so they can get pregnant
and leave their newborn babies behind. We do not face a situation where the probability is such that every foundling
would have a 50% chance of being a Filipino and a 50% chance of being a foreigner. We need to frame our questions
properly. What are the chances that the parents of anyone born in the Philippines would be foreigners? Almost zero.
What are the chances that the parents of anyone born in the Philippines would be Filipinos? 99.9%.
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, from 2010 to 2014, on a yearly average, there were 1,766,046
children born in the Philippines to Filipino parents, as opposed to 1,301 children in the Philippines of foreign parents.
Thus, for that sample period, the ratio of non-Filipino children to natural born Filipino children is 1:1357. This means
that the statistical probability that any child born in the Philippines would be a natural born Filipino is 99.93%.
From 1965 to 1975, the total number of foreigners born in the Philippines is 15,986 while the total number of Filipinos
born in the Philippines is 15,558,278. For this period, the ratio of non-Filipino children is 1:661. This means that the
statistical probability that any child born in the Philippines on that decade would be a natural born Filipino is 99.83%.
We can invite statisticians and social anthropologists to crunch the numbers for us, but I am confident that the
statistical probability that a child born in the Philippines would be a natural born Filipino will not be affected by whether
or not the parents are known. If at all, the likelihood that a foundling would have a Filipino parent might even be higher
than 99.9%. Filipinos abandon their children out of poverty or perhaps, shame. We do not imagine foreigners
abandoning their children here in the Philippines thinking those infants would have better economic opportunities or
believing that this country is a tropical paradise suitable for raising abandoned children. I certainly doubt whether a
foreign couple has ever considered their child excess baggage that is best left behind.
To deny full Filipino citizenship to all foundlings and render them stateless just because there may be a theoretical
chance that one among the thousands of these foundlings might be the child of not just one, but two, foreigners is
downright discriminatory, irrational, and unjust. It just doesn't make any sense. Given the statistical certainty - 99.9% -
that any child born in the Philippines would be a natural born citizen, a decision denying foundlings such status is
effectively a denial of their birthright. There is no reason why this Honorable Court should use an improbable
hypothetical to sacrifice the fundamental political rights of an entire class of human beings. Your Honor, constitutional
interpretation and the use of common sense are not separate disciplines.
As a matter of law, foundlings are as a class, natural-born citizens. While the 1935 Constitution's enumeration is silent
as to foundlings, there is no restrictive language which would definitely exclude foundlings either. Because of silence
and ambiguity in the enumeration with respect to foundlings, there is a need to examine the intent of the framers. In
Nitafan v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue,114 this Court held that:
The ascertainment of that intent is but in keeping with the fundamental principle of constitutional
construction that the intent of the framers of the organic law and of the people adopting it should be given
effect. The primary task in constitutional construction is to ascertain and thereafter assure the realization
of the purpose of the framers and of the people in the adoption of the Constitution. It may also be safely
assumed that the people in ratifying the Constitution were guided mainly by the explanation offered by
the framers.115
As pointed out by petitioner as well as the Solicitor General, the deliberations of the 1934 Constitutional Convention
show that the framers intended foundlings to be covered by the enumeration. The following exchange is recorded:
Sr. Rafols: For an amendment. I propose that after subsection 2, the following is inserted: "The natural children of a
foreign father and a Filipino mother not recognized by the father.
xxxx
President:
[We] would like to request a clarification from the proponent of the amendment. The gentleman refers to natural
children or to any kind of illegitimate children?
Sr. Rafols:
To all kinds of illegitimate children. It also includes natural children of unknown parentage, natural or illegitimate
children of unknown parents.
Sr. Montinola:
For clarification. The gentleman said "of unknown parents." Current codes consider them Filipino, that is, I refer to the
Spanish Code wherein all children of unknown parentage born in Spanish territory are considered Spaniards,
because the presumption is that a child of unknown parentage is the son of a Spaniard. This may be applied in the
Philippines in that a child of unknown parentage born in the Philippines is deemed to be Filipino, and there is no need
...
Sr. Rafols:
There is a need, because we are relating the conditions that are [required] to be Filipino.
Sr. Montinola:
But that is the interpretation of the law, therefore, there is no [more] need for amendment.
Sr. Rafols:
The amendment should read thus:
"Natural or illegitimate of a foreign father and a Filipino mother recognized by one, or the children of unknown
parentage."
Sr. Briones:
The amendment [should] mean children born in the Philippines of unknown parentage.
Sr. Rafols:
The son of a Filipina to a Foreigner, although this [person] does not recognize the child, is not unknown.
President:
Does the gentleman accept the amendment or not?
Sr. Rafols:
I do not accept the amendment because the amendment would exclude the children of a Filipina with a foreigner who
does not recognize the child. Their parentage is not unknown and I think those of overseas Filipino mother and father
[whom the latter] does not recognize, should also be considered as Filipinos.
President:
The question in order is the amendment to the amendment from the Gentleman from Cebu, Mr. Briones.
Sr. Busion:
Mr. President, don't you think it would be better to leave this matter in the hands of the Legislature?
Sr. Roxas:
Mr. President, my humble opinion is that these cases are few and far in between, that the constitution need [not] refer
to them. By international law the principle that children or people born in a country of unknown parents are citizens in
this nation is recognized, and it is not necessary to include a provision on the subject exhaustively.116
Though the Rafols amendment was not carried out, it was not because there was any objection to the notion that
persons of "unknown parentage" are not citizens but only because their number was not enough to merit specific
mention. Such was the account,117 cited by petitioner, of delegate and constitution law author Jose Aruego who said:
During the debates on this provision, Delegate Rafols presented an amendment to include as Filipino
citizens the illegitimate children with a foreign father of a mother who was a citizen of the Philippines, and
also foundlings; but this amendment was defeated primarily because the Convention believed that the
cases, being too few to warrant the inclusion of a provision in the Constitution to apply to them, should be
governed by statutory legislation. Moreover, it was believed that the rules of international law were
already clear to the effect that illegitimate children followed the citizenship of the mother, and that
foundlings followed the nationality of the place where they were found, thereby making unnecessary the
inclusion in the Constitution of the proposed amendment.
This explanation was likewise the position of the Solicitor General during the 16 February 2016 Oral Arguments:
We all know that the Rafols proposal was rejected. But note that what was declined was the proposal for a textual and
explicit recognition of foundlings as Filipinos. And so, the way to explain the constitutional silence is by saying that it
was the view of Montinola and Roxas which prevailed that there is no more need to expressly declare foundlings as
Filipinos.
Obviously, it doesn't matter whether Montinola's or Roxas' views were legally correct. Framers of a constitution can
constitutionalize rules based on assumptions that are imperfect or even wrong. They can even overturn existing rules.
This is basic. What matters here is that Montinola and Roxas were able to convince their colleagues in the convention
that there is no more need to expressly declare foundlings as Filipinos because they are already impliedly so
recognized.
In other words, the constitutional silence is fully explained in terms of linguistic efficiency and the avoidance of
redundancy. The policy is clear: it is to recognize foundlings, as a class, as Filipinos under Art. IV, Section 1 (3) of the
1935 Constitution. This inclusive policy is carried over into the 1973 and 1987 Constitution. It is appropriate to invoke
a famous scholar as he was paraphrased by Chief Justice Fernando: the constitution is not silently silent, it is silently
vocal. 118
The Solicitor General makes the further point that the framers "worked to create a just and humane society," that
"they were reasonable patriots and that it would be unfair to impute upon them a discriminatory intent against
foundlings." He exhorts that, given the grave implications of the argument that foundlings are not natural-born
Filipinos, the Court must search the records of the 1935, 1973 and 1987 Constitutions "for an express intention to
deny foundlings the status of Filipinos. The burden is on those who wish to use the constitution to discriminate against
foundlings to show that the constitution really intended to take this path to the dark side and inflict this across the
board marginalization."
We find no such intent or language permitting discrimination against foundlings. On the contrary, all three
Constitutions guarantee the basic right to equal protection of the laws. All exhort the State to render social justice. Of
special consideration are several provisions in the present charter: Article II, Section 11 which provides that the "State
values the dignity of every human person and guarantees full respect for human rights," Article XIII, Section 1 which
mandates Congress to "give highest priority to the enactment of measures that protect and enhance the right of all the
people to human dignity, reduce social, economic, and political inequalities x x x" and Article XV, Section 3 which
requires the State to defend the "right of children to assistance, including proper care and nutrition, and special
protection from all forms of neglect, abuse, cruelty, exploitation, and other conditions prejudicial to their development."
Certainly, these provisions contradict an intent to discriminate against foundlings on account of their unfortunate
status.
Domestic laws on adoption also support the principle that foundlings are Filipinos. These laws do not provide that
adoption confers citizenship upon the adoptee. Rather, the adoptee must be a Filipino in the first place to be adopted.
The most basic of such laws is Article 15 of the Civil Code which provides that "[l]aws relating to family rights, duties,
status, conditions, legal capacity of persons are binding on citizens of the Philippines even though living abroad."
Adoption deals with status, and a Philippine adoption court will have jurisdiction only if the adoptee is a Filipino. In
Ellis and Ellis v. Republic,119 a child left by an unidentified mother was sought to be adopted by aliens. This Court
said:
In this connection, it should be noted that this is a proceedings in rem, which no court may entertain unless it has
jurisdiction, not only over the subject matter of the case and over the parties, but also over the res, which is the
personal status of Baby Rose as well as that of petitioners herein. Our Civil Code (Art. 15) adheres to the theory that
jurisdiction over the status of a natural person is determined by the latter's nationality. Pursuant to this theory, we
have jurisdiction over the status of Baby Rose, she being a citizen of the Philippines, but not over the status of the
petitioners, who are foreigners.120 (Underlining supplied)
Recent legislation is more direct. R.A. No. 8043 entitled "An Act Establishing the Rules to Govern the Inter-Country
Adoption of Filipino Children and For Other Purposes" (otherwise known as the "Inter-Country Adoption Act of 1995"),
R.A. No. 8552, entitled "An Act Establishing the Rules and Policies on the Adoption of Filipino Children and For Other
Purposes" (otherwise known as the Domestic Adoption Act of 1998) and this Court's A.M. No. 02-6-02-SC or the
"Rule on Adoption," all expressly refer to "Filipino children" and include foundlings as among Filipino children who
may be adopted.
It has been argued that the process to determine that the child is a foundling leading to the issuance of a foundling
certificate under these laws and the issuance of said certificate are acts to acquire or perfect Philippine citizenship
which make the foundling a naturalized Filipino at best. This is erroneous. Under Article IV, Section 2 "Natural-born
citizens are those who are citizens of the Philippines from birth without having to perform any act to acquire or perfect
their Philippine citizenship." In the first place, "having to perform an act" means that the act must be personally done
by the citizen. In this instance, the determination of foundling status is done not by the child but by the authorities.121
Secondly, the object of the process is the determination of the whereabouts of the parents, not the citizenship of the
child. Lastly, the process is certainly not analogous to naturalization proceedings to acquire Philippine citizenship, or
the election of such citizenship by one born of an alien father and a Filipino mother under the 1935 Constitution,
which is an act to perfect it.
In this instance, such issue is moot because there is no dispute that petitioner is a foundling, as evidenced by a
Foundling Certificate issued in her favor.122 The Decree of Adoption issued on 13 May 1974, which approved
petitioner's adoption by Jesusa Sonora Poe and Ronald Allan Kelley Poe, expressly refers to Emiliano and his wife,
Rosario Militar, as her "foundling parents," hence effectively affirming petitioner's status as a foundling.123
Foundlings are likewise citizens under international law. Under the 1987 Constitution, an international law can
become part of the sphere of domestic law either by transformation or incorporation. The transformation method
requires that an international law be transformed into a domestic law through a constitutional mechanism such as
local legislation.124 On the other hand, generally accepted principles of international law, by virtue of the incorporation
clause of the Constitution, form part of the laws of the land even if they do not derive from treaty obligations.
Generally accepted principles of international law include international custom as evidence of a general practice
accepted as law, and general principles of law recognized by civilized nations.125 International customary rules are
accepted as binding as a result from the combination of two elements: the established, widespread, and consistent
practice on the part of States; and a psychological element known as the opinionjuris sive necessitates (opinion as to
law or necessity). Implicit in the latter element is a belief that the practice in question is rendered obligatory by the
existence of a rule of law requiring it.126 "General principles of law recognized by civilized nations" are principles
"established by a process of reasoning" or judicial logic, based on principles which are "basic to legal systems
generally,"127 such as "general principles of equity, i.e., the general principles of fairness and justice," and the "general
principle against discrimination" which is embodied in the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Racial Discrimination, the Convention Against Discrimination in Education, the Convention (No. 111) Concerning
Discrimination in Respect of Employment and Occupation."128 These are the same core principles which underlie the
Philippine Constitution itself, as embodied in the due process and equal protection clauses of the Bill of Rights.129
Universal Declaration of Human Rights ("UDHR") has been interpreted by this Court as part of the generally accepted
principles of international law and binding on the State.130 Article 15 thereof states:
1. Everyone has the right to a nationality.
2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.
The Philippines has also ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Article 7 of the UNCRC
imposes the following obligations on our country:
Article 7
1. The child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to
acquire a nationality and as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents.
2. States Parties shall ensure the implementation of these rights in accordance with their national law and their
obligations under the relevant international instruments in this field, in particular where the child would otherwise be
stateless.
In 1986, the country also ratified the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Article 24
thereof provide for the right of every child "to acquire a nationality:"
Article 24
1. Every child shall have, without any discrimination as to race, colour, sex, language, religion, national or social
origin, property or birth, the right, to such measures of protection as are required by his status as a minor, on the part
of his family, society and the State.
2. Every child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have a name.
3. Every child has the right to acquire a nationality.
The common thread of the UDHR, UNCRC and ICCPR is to obligate the Philippines to grant nationality from birth and
ensure that no child is stateless. This grant of nationality must be at the time of birth, and it cannot be accomplished
by the application of our present naturalization laws, Commonwealth Act No. 473, as amended, and R.A. No. 9139,
both of which require the applicant to be at least eighteen (18) years old.
The principles found in two conventions, while yet unratified by the Philippines, are generally accepted principles of
international law. The first is Article 14 of the 1930 Hague Convention on Certain Questions Relating to the Conflict of
Nationality Laws under which a foundling is presumed to have the "nationality of the country of birth," to wit:
Article 14
A child whose parents are both unknown shall have the nationality of the country of birth. If the child's parentage is
established, its nationality shall be determined by the rules applicable in cases where the parentage is known.
A foundling is, until the contrary is proved, presumed to have been born on the territory of the State in which it was
found. (Underlining supplied)
The second is the principle that a foundling is presumed born of citizens of the country where he is found, contained
in Article 2 of the 1961 United Nations Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness:
Article 2
A foundling found in the territory of a Contracting State shall, in the absence of proof to the contrary, be considered to
have been born within the territory of parents possessing the nationality of that State.
That the Philippines is not a party to the 1930 Hague Convention nor to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of
Statelessness does not mean that their principles are not binding. While the Philippines is not a party to the 1930
Hague Convention, it is a signatory to the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, Article 15(1) ofwhich 131 effectively
affirms Article 14 of the 1930 Hague Convention. Article 2 of the 1961 "United Nations Convention on the Reduction
of Statelessness" merely "gives effect" to Article 15(1) of the UDHR.132 In Razon v. Tagitis, 133 this Court noted that
the Philippines had not signed or ratified the "International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced
Disappearance." Yet, we ruled that the proscription against enforced disappearances in the said convention was
nonetheless binding as a "generally accepted principle of international law." Razon v. Tagitis is likewise notable for
declaring the ban as a generally accepted principle of international law although the convention had been ratified by
only sixteen states and had not even come into force and which needed the ratification of a minimum of twenty states.
Additionally, as petitioner points out, the Court was content with the practice of international and regional state
organs, regional state practice in Latin America, and State Practice in the United States.
Another case where the number of ratifying countries was not determinative is Mijares v. Ranada, 134 where only four
countries had "either ratified or acceded to"135 the 1966 "Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign
Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters" when the case was decided in 2005. The Court also pointed out that that
nine member countries of the European Common Market had acceded to the Judgments Convention. The Court also
cited U.S. laws and jurisprudence on recognition of foreign judgments. In all, only the practices of fourteen countries
were considered and yet, there was pronouncement that recognition of foreign judgments was widespread practice.
Our approach in Razon and Mijares effectively takes into account the fact that "generally accepted principles of
international law" are based not only on international custom, but also on "general principles of law recognized by
civilized nations," as the phrase is understood in Article 38.1 paragraph (c) of the ICJ Statute. Justice, fairness, equity
and the policy against discrimination, which are fundamental principles underlying the Bill of Rights and which are
"basic to legal systems generally,"136 support the notion that the right against enforced disappearances and the
recognition of foreign judgments, were correctly considered as "generally accepted principles of international law"
under the incorporation clause.
Petitioner's evidence137 shows that at least sixty countries in Asia, North and South America, and Europe have
passed legislation recognizing foundlings as its citizen. Forty-two (42) of those countries follow the jus sanguinis
regime. Of the sixty, only thirty-three (33) are parties to the 1961 Convention on Statelessness; twenty-six (26) are not
signatories to the Convention. Also, the Chief Justice, at the 2 February 2016 Oral Arguments pointed out that in 166
out of 189 countries surveyed (or 87.83%), foundlings are recognized as citizens. These circumstances, including the
practice of jus sanguinis countries, show that it is a generally accepted principle of international law to presume
foundlings as having been born of nationals of the country in which the foundling is found.
Current legislation reveals the adherence of the Philippines to this generally accepted principle of international law. In
particular, R.A. No. 8552, R.A. No. 8042 and this Court's Rules on Adoption, expressly refer to "Filipino children." In
all of them, foundlings are among the Filipino children who could be adopted. Likewise, it has been pointed that the
DFA issues passports to foundlings. Passports are by law, issued only to citizens. This shows that even the executive
department, acting through the DFA, considers foundlings as Philippine citizens.
Adopting these legal principles from the 1930 Hague Convention and the 1961 Convention on Statelessness is
rational and reasonable and consistent with the jus sanguinis regime in our Constitution. The presumption of natural-
born citizenship of foundlings stems from the presumption that their parents are nationals of the Philippines. As the
empirical data provided by the PSA show, that presumption is at more than 99% and is a virtual certainty.
In sum, all of the international law conventions and instruments on the matter of nationality of foundlings were
designed to address the plight of a defenseless class which suffers from a misfortune not of their own making. We
cannot be restrictive as to their application if we are a country which calls itself civilized and a member of the
community of nations. The Solicitor General's warning in his opening statement is relevant:
.... the total effect of those documents is to signify to this Honorable Court that those treaties and conventions were
drafted because the world community is concerned that the situation of foundlings renders them legally invisible. It
would be tragically ironic if this Honorable Court ended up using the international instruments which seek to protect
and uplift foundlings a tool to deny them political status or to accord them second-class citizenship.138
The COMELEC also ruled139 that petitioner's repatriation in July 2006 under the provisions of R.A. No. 9225 did not
result in the reacquisition of natural-born citizenship. The COMELEC reasoned that since the applicant must perform
an act, what is reacquired is not "natural-born" citizenship but only plain "Philippine citizenship."
The COMELEC's rule arrogantly disregards consistent jurisprudence on the matter of repatriation statutes in general
and of R.A. No. 9225 in particular.
In the seminal case of Bengson Ill v. HRET, 140 repatriation was explained as follows:
Moreover, repatriation results in the recovery of the original nationality. This means that a naturalized Filipino who lost
his citizenship will be restored to his prior status as a naturalized Filipino citizen. On the other hand, if he was
originally a natural-born citizen before he lost his Philippine citizenship, he will be restored to his former status as a
natural-born Filipino.
R.A. No. 9225 is a repatriation statute and has been described as such in several cases. They include Sobejana-
Condon v. COMELEC141 where we described it as an "abbreviated repatriation process that restores one's Filipino
citizenship x x x." Also included is Parreno v. Commission on Audit,142 which cited Tabasa v. Court of Appeals,143
where we said that "[t]he repatriation of the former Filipino will allow him to recover his natural-born citizenship.
Parreno v. Commission on Audit144 is categorical that "if petitioner reacquires his Filipino citizenship (under R.A. No.
9225), he will ... recover his natural-born citizenship."
The COMELEC construed the phrase "from birth" in the definition of natural citizens as implying "that natural-born
citizenship must begin at birth and remain uninterrupted and continuous from birth." R.A. No. 9225 was obviously
passed in line with Congress' sole prerogative to determine how citizenship may be lost or reacquired. Congress saw
it fit to decree that natural-born citizenship may be reacquired even if it had been once lost. It is not for the COMELEC
to disagree with the Congress' determination.
More importantly, COMELEC's position that natural-born status must be continuous was already rejected in Bengson
III v. HRET145 where the phrase "from birth" was clarified to mean at the time of birth: "A person who at the time of his
birth, is a citizen of a particular country, is a natural-born citizen thereof." Neither is "repatriation" an act to "acquire or
perfect" one's citizenship. In Bengson III v. HRET, this Court pointed out that there are only two types of citizens
under the 1987 Constitution: natural-born citizen and naturalized, and that there is no third category for repatriated
citizens:
It is apparent from the enumeration of who are citizens under the present Constitution that there are only two classes
of citizens: (1) those who are natural-born and (2) those who are naturalized in accordance with law. A citizen who is
not a naturalized Filipino, ie., did not have to undergo the process of naturalization to obtain Philippine citizenship,
necessarily is a natural-born Filipino. Noteworthy is the absence in said enumeration of a separate category for
persons who, after losing Philippine citizenship, subsequently reacquire it. The reason therefor is clear: as to such
persons, they would either be natural-born or naturalized depending on the reasons for the loss of their citizenship
and the mode prescribed by the applicable law for the reacquisition thereof. As respondent Cruz was not required by
law to go through naturalization proceedings in order to reacquire his citizenship, he is perforce a natural-born
Filipino. As such, he possessed all the necessary qualifications to be elected as member of the House of
Representatives.146
The COMELEC cannot reverse a judicial precedent. That is reserved to this Court. And while we may always revisit a
doctrine, a new rule reversing standing doctrine cannot be retroactively applied. In Morales v. Court of Appeals and
Jejomar Erwin S. Binay, Jr.,147 where we decreed reversed the condonation doctrine, we cautioned that it "should be
prospective in application for the reason that judicial decisions applying or interpreting the laws of the Constitution,
until reversed, shall form part of the legal system of the Philippines." This Court also said that "while the future may
ultimately uncover a doctrine's error, it should be, as a general rule, recognized as good law prior to its abandonment.
Consequently, the people's reliance thereupon should be respected."148
Lastly, it was repeatedly pointed out during the oral arguments that petitioner committed a falsehood when she put in
the spaces for "born to" in her application for repatriation under R.A. No. 9225 the names of her adoptive parents, and
this misled the BI to presume that she was a natural-born Filipino. It has been contended that the data required were
the names of her biological parents which are precisely unknown.
This position disregards one important fact - petitioner was legally adopted. One of the effects of adoption is "to sever
all legal ties between the biological parents and the adoptee, except when the biological parent is the spouse of the
adoptee."149 Under R.A. No. 8552, petitioner was also entitled to an amended birth certificate "attesting to the fact that
the adoptee is the child of the adopter(s)" and which certificate "shall not bear any notation that it is an amended
issue."150 That law also requires that "[a]ll records, books, and papers relating to the adoption cases in the files of the
court, the Department [of Social Welfare and Development], or any other agency or institution participating in the
adoption proceedings shall be kept strictly confidential."151 The law therefore allows petitioner to state that her
adoptive parents were her birth parents as that was what would be stated in her birth certificate anyway. And given
the policy of strict confidentiality of adoption records, petitioner was not obligated to disclose that she was an adoptee.
Clearly, to avoid a direct ruling on the qualifications of petitioner, which it cannot make in the same case for
cancellation of COC, it resorted to opinionatedness which is, moreover, erroneous. The whole process undertaken by
COMELEC is wrapped in grave abuse of discretion.
On Residence
The tainted process was repeated in disposing of the issue of whether or not petitioner committed false material
representation when she stated in her COC that she has before and until 9 May 2016 been a resident of the
Philippines for ten (10) years and eleven (11) months.
Petitioner's claim that she will have been a resident for ten (10) years and eleven (11) months on the day before the
2016 elections, is true.
The Constitution requires presidential candidates to have ten (10) years' residence in the Philippines before the day of
the elections. Since the forthcoming elections will be held on 9 May 2016, petitioner must have been a resident of the
Philippines prior to 9 May 2016 for ten (10) years. In answer to the requested information of "Period of Residence in
the Philippines up to the day before May 09, 2016," she put in "10 years 11 months" which according to her pleadings
in these cases corresponds to a beginning date of 25 May 2005 when she returned for good from the U.S.
When petitioner immigrated to the U.S. in 1991, she lost her original domicile, which is the Philippines. There are
three requisites to acquire a new domicile: 1. Residence or bodily presence in a new locality; 2. an intention to remain
there; and 3. an intention to abandon the old domicile.152 To successfully effect a change of domicile, one must
demonstrate an actual removal or an actual change of domicile; a bona fide intention of abandoning the former place
of residence and establishing a new one and definite acts which correspond with the purpose. In other words, there
must basically be animus manendi coupled with animus non revertendi. The purpose to remain in or at the domicile of
choice must be for an indefinite period of time; the change of residence must be voluntary; and the residence at the
place chosen for the new domicile must be actual.153
Petitioner presented voluminous evidence showing that she and her family abandoned their U.S. domicile and
relocated to the Philippines for good. These evidence include petitioner's former U.S. passport showing her arrival on
24 May 2005 and her return to the Philippines every time she travelled abroad; e-mail correspondences starting in
March 2005 to September 2006 with a freight company to arrange for the shipment of their household items weighing
about 28,000 pounds to the Philippines; e-mail with the Philippine Bureau of Animal Industry inquiring how to ship
their dog to the Philippines; school records of her children showing enrollment in Philippine schools starting June
2005 and for succeeding years; tax identification card for petitioner issued on July 2005; titles for condominium and
parking slot issued in February 2006 and their corresponding tax declarations issued in April 2006; receipts dated 23
February 2005 from the Salvation Army in the U.S. acknowledging donation of items from petitioner's family; March
2006 e-mail to the U.S. Postal Service confirming request for change of address; final statement from the First
American Title Insurance Company showing sale of their U.S. home on 27 April 2006; 12 July 2011 filled-up
questionnaire submitted to the U.S. Embassy where petitioner indicated that she had been a Philippine resident since
May 2005; affidavit from Jesusa Sonora Poe (attesting to the return of petitioner on 24 May 2005 and that she and
her family stayed with affiant until the condominium was purchased); and Affidavit from petitioner's husband
(confirming that the spouses jointly decided to relocate to the Philippines in 2005 and that he stayed behind in the
U.S. only to finish some work and to sell the family home).
The foregoing evidence were undisputed and the facts were even listed by the COMELEC, particularly in its
Resolution in the Tatad, Contreras and Valdez cases.
However, the COMELEC refused to consider that petitioner's domicile had been timely changed as of 24 May 2005.
At the oral arguments, COMELEC Commissioner Arthur Lim conceded the presence of the first two requisites,
namely, physical presence and animus manendi, but maintained there was no animus non-revertendi.154 The
COMELEC disregarded the import of all the evidence presented by petitioner on the basis of the position that the
earliest date that petitioner could have started residence in the Philippines was in July 2006 when her application
under R.A. No. 9225 was approved by the BI. In this regard, COMELEC relied on Coquilla v. COMELEC,155 Japzon v.
COMELEC156 and Caballero v. COMELEC. 157 During the oral arguments, the private respondents also added Reyes
v. COMELEC.158 Respondents contend that these cases decree that the stay of an alien former Filipino cannot be
counted until he/she obtains a permanent resident visa or reacquires Philippine citizenship, a visa-free entry under a
balikbayan stamp being insufficient. Since petitioner was still an American (without any resident visa) until her
reacquisition of citizenship under R.A. No. 9225, her stay from 24 May 2005 to 7 July 2006 cannot be counted.
But as the petitioner pointed out, the facts in these four cases are very different from her situation. In Coquilla v.
COMELEC,159 the only evidence presented was a community tax certificate secured by the candidate and his
declaration that he would be running in the elections. Japzon v. COMELEC160 did not involve a candidate who wanted
to count residence prior to his reacquisition of Philippine citizenship. With the Court decreeing that residence is
distinct from citizenship, the issue there was whether the candidate's acts after reacquisition sufficed to establish
residence. In Caballero v. COMELEC, 161 the candidate admitted that his place of work was abroad and that he only
visited during his frequent vacations. In Reyes v. COMELEC,162 the candidate was found to be an American citizen
who had not even reacquired Philippine citizenship under R.A. No. 9225 or had renounced her U.S. citizenship. She
was disqualified on the citizenship issue. On residence, the only proof she offered was a seven-month stint as
provincial officer. The COMELEC, quoted with approval by this Court, said that "such fact alone is not sufficient to
prove her one-year residency."
It is obvious that because of the sparse evidence on residence in the four cases cited by the respondents, the Court
had no choice but to hold that residence could be counted only from acquisition of a permanent resident visa or from
reacquisition of Philippine citizenship. In contrast, the evidence of petitioner is overwhelming and taken together leads
to no other conclusion that she decided to permanently abandon her U.S. residence (selling the house, taking the
children from U.S. schools, getting quotes from the freight company, notifying the U.S. Post Office of the
abandonment of their address in the U.S., donating excess items to the Salvation Army, her husband resigning from
U.S. employment right after selling the U.S. house) and permanently relocate to the Philippines and actually re-
established her residence here on 24 May 2005 (securing T.I.N, enrolling her children in Philippine schools, buying
property here, constructing a residence here, returning to the Philippines after all trips abroad, her husband getting
employed here). Indeed, coupled with her eventual application to reacquire Philippine citizenship and her family's
actual continuous stay in the Philippines over the years, it is clear that when petitioner returned on 24 May 2005 it
was for good.
In this connection, the COMELEC also took it against petitioner that she had entered the Philippines visa-free as a
balikbayan. A closer look at R.A. No. 6768 as amended, otherwise known as the "An Act Instituting a Balikbayan
Program," shows that there is no overriding intent to treat balikbayans as temporary visitors who must leave after one
year. Included in the law is a former Filipino who has been naturalized abroad and "comes or returns to the
Philippines." 163 The law institutes a balikbayan program "providing the opportunity to avail of the necessary training to
enable the balikbayan to become economically self-reliant members of society upon their return to the country"164 in
line with the government's "reintegration program."165 Obviously, balikbayans are not ordinary transients.
Given the law's express policy to facilitate the return of a balikbayan and help him reintegrate into society, it would be
an unduly harsh conclusion to say in absolute terms that the balikbayan must leave after one year. That visa-free
period is obviously granted him to allow him to re-establish his life and reintegrate himself into the community before
he attends to the necessary formal and legal requirements of repatriation. And that is exactly what petitioner did - she
reestablished life here by enrolling her children and buying property while awaiting the return of her husband and then
applying for repatriation shortly thereafter.
No case similar to petitioner's, where the former Filipino's evidence of change in domicile is extensive and
overwhelming, has as yet been decided by the Court. Petitioner's evidence of residence is unprecedented. There is
no judicial precedent that comes close to the facts of residence of petitioner. There is no indication in Coquilla v.
COMELEC,166 and the other cases cited by the respondents that the Court intended to have its rulings there apply to
a situation where the facts are different. Surely, the issue of residence has been decided particularly on the facts-of-
the case basis.
To avoid the logical conclusion pointed out by the evidence of residence of petitioner, the COMELEC ruled that
petitioner's claim of residence of ten (10) years and eleven (11) months by 9 May 2016 in her 2015 COC was false
because she put six ( 6) years and six ( 6) months as "period of residence before May 13, 2013" in her 2012 COC for
Senator. Thus, according to the COMELEC, she started being a Philippine resident only in November 2006. In doing
so, the COMELEC automatically assumed as true the statement in the 2012 COC and the 2015 COC as false.
As explained by petitioner in her verified pleadings, she misunderstood the date required in the 2013 COC as the
period of residence as of the day she submitted that COC in 2012. She said that she reckoned residency from April-
May 2006 which was the period when the U.S. house was sold and her husband returned to the Philippines. In that
regard, she was advised by her lawyers in 2015 that residence could be counted from 25 May 2005.
Petitioner's explanation that she misunderstood the query in 2012 (period of residence before 13 May 2013) as
inquiring about residence as of the time she submitted the COC, is bolstered by the change which the COMELEC
itself introduced in the 2015 COC which is now "period of residence in the Philippines up to the day before May 09,
2016." The COMELEC would not have revised the query if it did not acknowledge that the first version was vague.
That petitioner could have reckoned residence from a date earlier than the sale of her U.S. house and the return of
her husband is plausible given the evidence that she had returned a year before. Such evidence, to repeat, would
include her passport and the school records of her children.
It was grave abuse of discretion for the COMELEC to treat the 2012 COC as a binding and conclusive admission
against petitioner. It could be given in evidence against her, yes, but it was by no means conclusive. There is
precedent after all where a candidate's mistake as to period of residence made in a COC was overcome by evidence.
In Romualdez-Marcos v. COMELEC,167 the candidate mistakenly put seven (7) months as her period of residence
where the required period was a minimum of one year. We said that "[i]t is the fact of residence, not a statement in a
certificate of candidacy which ought to be decisive in determining whether or not an individual has satisfied the
constitutions residency qualification requirement." The COMELEC ought to have looked at the evidence presented
and see if petitioner was telling the truth that she was in the Philippines from 24 May 2005. Had the COMELEC done
its duty, it would have seen that the 2012 COC and the 2015 COC both correctly stated the pertinent period of
residency.
The COMELEC, by its own admission, disregarded the evidence that petitioner actually and physically returned here
on 24 May 2005 not because it was false, but only because COMELEC took the position that domicile could be
established only from petitioner's repatriation under R.A. No. 9225 in July 2006. However, it does not take away the
fact that in reality, petitioner had returned from the U.S. and was here to stay permanently, on 24 May 2005. When
she claimed to have been a resident for ten (10) years and eleven (11) months, she could do so in good faith.
For another, it could not be said that petitioner was attempting to hide anything. As already stated, a petition for quo
warranto had been filed against her with the SET as early as August 2015. The event from which the COMELEC
pegged the commencement of residence, petitioner's repatriation in July 2006 under R.A. No. 9225, was an
established fact to repeat, for purposes of her senatorial candidacy.
Notably, on the statement of residence of six (6) years and six (6) months in the 2012 COC, petitioner recounted that
this was first brought up in the media on 2 June 2015 by Rep. Tobias Tiangco of the United Nationalist Alliance.
Petitioner appears to have answered the issue immediately, also in the press. Respondents have not disputed
petitioner's evidence on this point. From that time therefore when Rep. Tiangco discussed it in the media, the stated
period of residence in the 2012 COC and the circumstances that surrounded the statement were already matters of
public record and were not hidden.
Petitioner likewise proved that the 2012 COC was also brought up in the SET petition for quo warranto. Her Verified
Answer, which was filed on 1 September 2015, admitted that she made a mistake in the 2012 COC when she put in
six ( 6) years and six ( 6) months as she misunderstood the question and could have truthfully indicated a longer
period. Her answer in the SET case was a matter of public record. Therefore, when petitioner accomplished her COC
for President on 15 October 2015, she could not be said to have been attempting to hide her erroneous statement in
her 2012 COC for Senator which was expressly mentioned in her Verified Answer.
The facts now, if not stretched to distortion, do not show or even hint at an intention to hide the 2012 statement and
have it covered by the 2015 representation. Petitioner, moreover, has on her side this Court's pronouncement that:
Concededly, a candidate's disqualification to run for public office does not necessarily constitute material
misrepresentation which is the sole ground for denying due course to, and for the cancellation of, a COC. Further, as
already discussed, the candidate's misrepresentation in his COC must not only refer to a material fact (eligibility and
qualifications for elective office), but should evince a deliberate intent to mislead, misinform or hide a fact which would
otherwise render a candidate ineligible. It must be made with an intention to deceive the electorate as to one's
qualifications to run for public office.168
In sum, the COMELEC, with the same posture of infallibilism, virtually ignored a good number of evidenced dates all
of which can evince animus manendi to the Philippines and animus non revertedi to the United States of America.
The veracity of the events of coming and staying home was as much as dismissed as inconsequential, the focus
having been fixed at the petitioner's "sworn declaration in her COC for Senator" which the COMELEC said "amounts
to a declaration and therefore an admission that her residence in the Philippines only commence sometime in
November 2006"; such that "based on this declaration, [petitioner] fails to meet the residency requirement for
President." This conclusion, as already shown, ignores the standing jurisprudence that it is the fact of residence, not
the statement of the person that determines residence for purposes of compliance with the constitutional requirement
of residency for election as President. It ignores the easily researched matter that cases on questions of residency
have been decided favorably for the candidate on the basis of facts of residence far less in number, weight and
substance than that presented by petitioner.169 It ignores, above all else, what we consider as a primary reason why
petitioner cannot be bound by her declaration in her COC for Senator which declaration was not even considered by
the SET as an issue against her eligibility for Senator. When petitioner made the declaration in her COC for Senator
that she has been a resident for a period of six (6) years and six (6) months counted up to the 13 May 2013 Elections,
she naturally had as reference the residency requirements for election as Senator which was satisfied by her declared
years of residence. It was uncontested during the oral arguments before us that at the time the declaration for
Senator was made, petitioner did not have as yet any intention to vie for the Presidency in 2016 and that the general
public was never made aware by petitioner, by word or action, that she would run for President in 2016. Presidential
candidacy has a length-of-residence different from that of a senatorial candidacy. There are facts of residence other
than that which was mentioned in the COC for Senator. Such other facts of residence have never been proven to be
false, and these, to repeat include:
[Petitioner] returned to the Philippines on 24 May 2005. (petitioner's] husband however stayed in the USA to finish
pending projects and arrange the sale of their family home.
Meanwhile [petitioner] and her children lived with her mother in San Juan City. [Petitioner] enrolled Brian in Beacon
School in Taguig City in 2005 and Hanna in Assumption College in Makati City in 2005. Anika was enrolled in
Learning Connection in San Juan in 2007, when she was already old enough to go to school.
In the second half of 2005, [petitioner] and her husband acquired Unit 7F of One Wilson Place Condominium in San
Juan. [Petitioner] and her family lived in Unit 7F until the construction of their family home in Corinthian Hills was
completed.
Sometime in the second half of 2005, [petitioner's] mother discovered that her former lawyer who handled
[petitioner's] adoption in 1974 failed to secure from the Office of the Civil Registrar of Iloilo a new Certificate of Live
Birth indicating [petitioner's] new name and stating that her parents are "Ronald Allan K. Poe" and "Jesusa L.
Sonora."
In February 2006, [petitioner] travelled briefly to the US in order to supervise the disposal of some of the family's
remaining household belongings.1a\^/phi1 [Petitioner] returned to the Philippines on 11 March 2006.
In late March 2006, [petitioner's] husband informed the United States Postal Service of the family's abandonment of
their address in the US.

The family home in the US was sole on 27 April 2006.

In April 2006, [petitioner's] husband resigned from his work in the US. He returned to the Philippines on 4 May 2006
and began working for a Philippine company in July 2006.

In early 2006, [petitioner] and her husband acquired a vacant lot in Corinthian Hills, where they eventually built their
family home.170

In light of all these, it was arbitrary for the COMELEC to satisfy its intention to let the case fall under the exclusive
ground of false representation, to consider no other date than that mentioned by petitioner in her COC for Senator.

All put together, in the matter of the citizenship and residence of petitioner for her candidacy as President of the
Republic, the questioned Resolutions of the COMELEC in Division and En Banc are, one and all, deadly diseased
with grave abuse of discretion from root to fruits.

WHEREFORE, the petition is GRANTED. The Resolutions, to wit:

1. dated 1 December 2015 rendered through the COMELEC Second Division, in SPA No. 15-001 (DC), entitled
Estrella C. Elamparo, petitioner, vs. Mary Grace Natividad Sonora Poe-Llamanzares, respondent, stating that:

[T]he Certificate of Candidacy for President of the Republic of the Philippines in the May 9, 2016 National and Local
Elections filed by respondent Mary Grace Natividad Sonora Poe-Llamanzares is hereby GRANTED.

2. dated 11 December 2015, rendered through the COMELEC First Division, in the consolidated cases SPA No. 15-
002 (DC) entitled Francisco S. Tatad, petitioner, vs. Mary Grace Natividad Sonora Poe-Llamanzares, respondent;
SPA No. 15-007 (DC) entitled Antonio P. Contreras, petitioner, vs. Mary Grace Natividad Sonora Poe-Llamanzares,
respondent; and SPA No. 15-139 (DC) entitled Amado D. Valdez, petitioner, v. Mary Grace Natividad Sonora Poe-
Llamanzares, respondent; stating that:

WHEREFORE, premises considered, the Commission RESOLVED, as it hereby RESOLVES, to GRANT the petitions
and cancel the Certificate of Candidacy of MARY GRACE NATIVIDAD SONORA POE-LLAMANZARES for the
elective position of President of the Republic of the Philippines in connection with the 9 May 2016 Synchronized Local
and National Elections.

3. dated 23 December 2015 of the COMELEC En Banc, upholding the 1 December 2015 Resolution of the Second
Division stating that:

WHEREFORE, premises considered, the Commission RESOLVED, as it hereby RESOLVES, to DENY the Verified
Motion for Reconsideration of SENATOR MARY GRACE NATIVIDAD SONORA POE-LLAMANZARES. The
Resolution dated 11 December 2015 of the Commission First Division is AFFIRMED.

4. dated 23 December 2015 of the COMELEC En Banc, upholding the 11 December 2015 Resolution of the First
Division.

are hereby ANNULED and SET ASIDE. Petitioner MARY GRACE NATIVIDAD SONORA POE-LLAMANZARES is
DECLARED QUALIFIED to be a candidate for President in the National and Local Elections of 9 May 2016.

SO ORDERED.
 EN BANC
G.R. No. 119976 September 18, 1995
IMELDA ROMUALDEZ-MARCOS, petitioner,
vs.
COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS and CIRILO ROY MONTEJO, respondents.
KAPUNAN, J.:
A constitutional provision should be construed as to give it effective operation and suppress the mischief at which it is
aimed.1 The 1987 Constitution mandates that an aspirant for election to the House of Representatives be "a
registered voter in the district in which he shall be elected, and a resident thereof for a period of not less than one
year immediately preceding the election."2 The mischief which this provision reproduced verbatim from the 1973
Constitution seeks to prevent is the possibility of a "stranger or newcomer unacquainted with the conditions and
needs of a community and not identified with the latter, from an elective office to serve that community." 3
Petitioner Imelda Romualdez-Marcos filed her Certificate of Candidacy for the position of Representative of the First
District of Leyte with the Provincial Election Supervisor on March 8, 1995, providing the following information in item
no. 8:4
RESIDENCE IN THE CONSTITUENCY WHERE I SEEK TO BE ELECTED IMMEDIATELY
PRECEDING THE ELECTION: __________ Years and seven Months.
On March 23, 1995, private respondent Cirilo Roy Montejo, the incumbent Representative of the First District of Leyte
and a candidate for the same position, filed a "Petition for Cancellation and Disqualification" 5 with the Commission on
Elections alleging that petitioner did not meet the constitutional requirement for residency. In his petition, private
respondent contended that Mrs. Marcos lacked the Constitution's one year residency requirement for candidates for
the House of Representatives on the evidence of declarations made by her in Voter Registration Record 94-No.
33497726 and in her Certificate of Candidacy. He prayed that "an order be issued declaring (petitioner) disqualified
and canceling the certificate of candidacy."7
On March 29, 1995, petitioner filed an Amended/Corrected Certificate of Candidacy, changing the entry "seven"
months to "since childhood" in item no. 8 of the amended certificate.8 On the same day, the Provincial Election
Supervisor of Leyte informed petitioner that:
[T]his office cannot receive or accept the aforementioned Certificate of Candidacy on the
ground that it is filed out of time, the deadline for the filing of the same having already lapsed
on March 20, 1995. The Corrected/Amended Certificate of Candidacy should have been filed
on or before the March 20, 1995 deadline.9
Consequently, petitioner filed the Amended/Corrected Certificate of Candidacy with the COMELEC's Head Office in
Intramuros, Manila on
March 31, 1995. Her Answer to private respondent's petition in SPA No. 95-009 was likewise filed with the head office
on the same day. In said Answer, petitioner averred that the entry of the word "seven" in her original Certificate of
Candidacy was the result of an "honest misinterpretation" 10 which she sought to rectify by adding the words "since
childhood" in her Amended/Corrected Certificate of Candidacy and that "she has always maintained Tacloban City as
her domicile or residence. 11 Impugning respondent's motive in filing the petition seeking her disqualification, she
noted that:
When respondent (petitioner herein) announced that she was intending to register as a voter
in Tacloban City and run for Congress in the First District of Leyte, petitioner immediately
opposed her intended registration by writing a letter stating that "she is not a resident of said
city but of Barangay Olot, Tolosa, Leyte. After respondent had registered as a voter in Tolosa
following completion of her six month actual residence therein, petitioner filed a petition with
the COMELEC to transfer the town of Tolosa from the First District to the Second District and
pursued such a move up to the Supreme Court, his purpose being to remove respondent as
petitioner's opponent in the congressional election in the First District. He also filed a bill,
along with other Leyte Congressmen, seeking the creation of another legislative district to
remove the town of Tolosa out of the First District, to achieve his purpose. However, such bill
did not pass the Senate. Having failed on such moves, petitioner now filed the instant petition
for the same objective, as it is obvious that he is afraid to submit along with respondent for
the judgment and verdict of the electorate of the First District of Leyte in an honest, orderly,
peaceful, free and clean elections on May 8, 1995. 12
On April 24, 1995, the Second Division of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC), by a vote of 2 to 1, 13 came up
with a Resolution 1) finding private respondent's Petition for Disqualification in SPA 95-009 meritorious; 2) striking off
petitioner's Corrected/Amended Certificate of Candidacy of March 31, 1995; and 3) canceling her original Certificate
of Candidacy. 14 Dealing with two primary issues, namely, the validity of amending the original Certificate of
Candidacy after the lapse of the deadline for filing certificates of candidacy, and petitioner's compliance with the one
year residency requirement, the Second Division held:
Respondent raised the affirmative defense in her Answer that the printed word "Seven"
(months) was a result of an "honest misinterpretation or honest mistake" on her part and,
therefore, an amendment should subsequently be allowed. She averred that she thought that
what was asked was her "actual and physical" presence in Tolosa and not residence of
origin or domicile in the First Legislative District, to which she could have responded "since
childhood." In an accompanying affidavit, she stated that her domicile is Tacloban City, a
component of the First District, to which she always intended to return whenever absent and
which she has never abandoned. Furthermore, in her memorandum, she tried to discredit
petitioner's theory of disqualification by alleging that she has been a resident of the First
Legislative District of Leyte since childhood, although she only became a resident of the
Municipality of Tolosa for seven months. She asserts that she has always been a resident of
Tacloban City, a component of the First District, before coming to the Municipality of Tolosa.
Along this point, it is interesting to note that prior to her registration in Tolosa, respondent
announced that she would be registering in Tacloban City so that she can be a candidate for
the District. However, this intention was rebuffed when petitioner wrote the Election Officer of
Tacloban not to allow respondent since she is a resident of Tolosa and not Tacloban. She
never disputed this claim and instead implicitly acceded to it by registering in Tolosa.
This incident belies respondent's claim of "honest misinterpretation or honest mistake."
Besides, the Certificate of Candidacy only asks for RESIDENCE. Since on the basis of her
Answer, she was quite aware of "residence of origin" which she interprets to be Tacloban
City, it is curious why she did not cite Tacloban City in her Certificate of Candidacy. Her
explanation that she thought what was asked was her actual and physical presence in
Tolosa is not easy to believe because there is none in the question that insinuates about
Tolosa. In fact, item no. 8 in the Certificate of Candidacy speaks clearly of "Residency in the
CONSTITUENCY where I seek to be elected immediately preceding the election." Thus, the
explanation of respondent fails to be persuasive.
From the foregoing, respondent's defense of an honest mistake or misinterpretation,
therefore, is devoid of merit.
To further buttress respondent's contention that an amendment may be made, she cited the
case of Alialy v. COMELEC (2 SCRA 957). The reliance of respondent on the case of Alialy
is misplaced. The case only applies to the "inconsequential deviations which cannot affect
the result of the election, or deviations from provisions intended primarily to secure timely
and orderly conduct of elections." The Supreme Court in that case considered the
amendment only as a matter of form. But in the instant case, the amendment cannot be
considered as a matter of form or an inconsequential deviation. The change in the number of
years of residence in the place where respondent seeks to be elected is a substantial matter
which determines her qualification as a candidacy, specially those intended to suppress,
accurate material representation in the original certificate which adversely affects the filer. To
admit the amended certificate is to condone the evils brought by the shifting minds of
manipulating candidate, of the detriment of the integrity of the election.
Moreover, to allow respondent to change the seven (7) month period of her residency in
order to prolong it by claiming it was "since childhood" is to allow an untruthfulness to be
committed before this Commission. The arithmetical accuracy of the 7 months residency the
respondent indicated in her certificate of candidacy can be gleaned from her entry in her
Voter's Registration Record accomplished on January 28, 1995 which reflects that she is a
resident of Brgy. Olot, Tolosa, Leyte for 6 months at the time of the said registration (Annex
A, Petition). Said accuracy is further buttressed by her letter to the election officer of San
Juan, Metro Manila, dated August 24, 1994, requesting for the cancellation of her registration
in the Permanent List of Voters thereat so that she can be re-registered or transferred to
Brgy. Olot, Tolosa, Leyte. The dates of these three (3) different documents show the
respondent's consistent conviction that she has transferred her residence to Olot, Tolosa,
Leyte from Metro Manila only for such limited period of time, starting in the last week of
August 1994 which on March 8, 1995 will only sum up to 7 months. The Commission,
therefore, cannot be persuaded to believe in the respondent's contention that it was an error.
xxx xxx xxx
Based on these reasons the Amended/Corrected Certificate of Candidacy cannot be
admitted by this Commission.
xxx xxx xxx
Anent the second issue, and based on the foregoing discussion, it is clear that respondent
has not complied with the one year residency requirement of the Constitution.
In election cases, the term "residence" has always been considered as synonymous with
"domicile" which imports not only the intention to reside in a fixed place but also personal
presence in-that place, coupled with conduct indicative of such intention. Domicile denotes a
fixed permanent residence to which when absent for business or pleasure, or for like
reasons, one intends to return. (Perfecto Faypon vs. Eliseo Quirino, 96 Phil 294; Romualdez
vs. RTC-Tacloban, 226 SCRA 408). In respondent's case, when she returned to the
Philippines in 1991, the residence she chose was not Tacloban but San Juan, Metro Manila.
Thus, her animus revertendi is pointed to Metro Manila and not Tacloban.
This Division is aware that her claim that she has been a resident of the First District since
childhood is nothing more than to give her a color of qualification where she is otherwise
constitutionally disqualified. It cannot hold ground in the face of the facts admitted by the
respondent in her affidavit. Except for the time that she studied and worked for some years
after graduation in Tacloban City, she continuously lived in Manila. In 1959, after her
husband was elected Senator, she lived and resided in San Juan, Metro Manila where she
was a registered voter. In 1965, she lived in San Miguel, Manila where she was again a
registered voter. In 1978, she served as member of the Batasang Pambansa as the
representative of the City of Manila and later on served as the Governor of Metro Manila.
She could not have served these positions if she had not been a resident of the City of
Manila. Furthermore, when she filed her certificate of candidacy for the office of the
President in 1992, she claimed to be a resident of San Juan, Metro Manila. As a matter of
fact on August 24, 1994, respondent wrote a letter with the election officer of San Juan,
Metro Manila requesting for the cancellation of her registration in the permanent list of voters
that she may be re-registered or transferred to Barangay Olot, Tolosa, Leyte. These facts
manifest that she could not have been a resident of Tacloban City since childhood up to the
time she filed her certificate of candidacy because she became a resident of many places,
including Metro Manila. This debunks her claim that prior to her residence in Tolosa, Leyte,
she was a resident of the First Legislative District of Leyte since childhood.
In this case, respondent's conduct reveals her lack of intention to make Tacloban her
domicile. She registered as a voter in different places and on several occasions declared that
she was a resident of Manila. Although she spent her school days in Tacloban, she is
considered to have abandoned such place when she chose to stay and reside in other
different places. In the case of Romualdez vs. RTC (226 SCRA 408) the Court explained
how one acquires a new domicile by choice. There must concur: (1) residence or bodily
presence in the new locality; (2) intention to remain there; and (3) intention to abandon the
old domicile. In other words there must basically be animus manendi with animus non
revertendi. When respondent chose to stay in Ilocos and later on in Manila, coupled with her
intention to stay there by registering as a voter there and expressly declaring that she is a
resident of that place, she is deemed to have abandoned Tacloban City, where she spent
her childhood and school days, as her place of domicile.
Pure intention to reside in that place is not sufficient, there must likewise be conduct
indicative of such intention. Respondent's statements to the effect that she has always
intended to return to Tacloban, without the accompanying conduct to prove that intention, is
not conclusive of her choice of residence. Respondent has not presented any evidence to
show that her conduct, one year prior the election, showed intention to reside in Tacloban.
Worse, what was evident was that prior to her residence in Tolosa, she had been a resident
of Manila.
It is evident from these circumstances that she was not a resident of the First District of Leyte
"since childhood."
To further support the assertion that she could have not been a resident of the First District
of Leyte for more than one year, petitioner correctly pointed out that on January 28, 1995
respondent registered as a voter at precinct No. 18-A of Olot, Tolosa, Leyte. In doing so, she
placed in her Voter Registration Record that she resided in the municipality of Tolosa for a
period of six months. This may be inconsequential as argued by the respondent since it
refers only to her residence in Tolosa, Leyte. But her failure to prove that she was a resident
of the First District of Leyte prior to her residence in Tolosa leaves nothing but a convincing
proof that she had been a resident of the district for six months only. 15
In a Resolution promulgated a day before the May 8, 1995 elections, the COMELEC en banc denied petitioner's
Motion for Reconsideration 16 of the April 24, 1995 Resolution declaring her not qualified to run for the position of
Member of the House of Representatives for the First Legislative District of Leyte. 17 The Resolution tersely stated:
After deliberating on the Motion for Reconsideration, the Commission RESOLVED to DENY
it, no new substantial matters having been raised therein to warrant re-examination of the
resolution granting the petition for disqualification. 18
On May 11, 1995, the COMELEC issued a Resolution allowing petitioner's proclamation should the results of the
canvass show that she obtained the highest number of votes in the congressional elections in the First District of
Leyte. On the same day, however, the COMELEC reversed itself and issued a second Resolution directing that the
proclamation of petitioner be suspended in the event that she obtains the highest number of votes. 19
In a Supplemental Petition dated 25 May 1995, petitioner averred that she was the overwhelming winner of the
elections for the congressional seat in the First District of Leyte held May 8, 1995 based on the canvass completed by
the Provincial Board of Canvassers on May 14, 1995. Petitioner alleged that the canvass showed that she obtained a
total of 70,471 votes compared to the 36,833 votes received by Respondent Montejo. A copy of said Certificate of
Canvass was annexed to the Supplemental Petition.
On account of the Resolutions disqualifying petitioner from running for the congressional seat of the First District of
Leyte and the public respondent's Resolution suspending her proclamation, petitioner comes to this court for relief.
Petitioner raises several issues in her Original and Supplemental Petitions. The principal issues may be classified into
two general areas:
I. The issue of Petitioner's qualifications
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.
II. The Jurisdictional Issue
 a) Prior to the elections
Whether or not the COMELEC properly exercised its jurisdiction in disqualifying petitioner
outside the period mandated by the Omnibus Election Code for disqualification cases under
Article 78 of the said Code.
b) After the Elections
Whether or not the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal assumed exclusive
jurisdiction over the question of petitioner's qualifications after the May 8, 1995 elections.
I. Petitioner's qualification
A perusal of the Resolution of the COMELEC's Second Division reveals a startling confusion in the application of
settled concepts of "Domicile" and "Residence" in election law. While the COMELEC seems to be in agreement with
the general proposition that for the purposes of election law, residence is synonymous with domicile, the Resolution
reveals a tendency to substitute or mistake the concept of domicile for actual residence, a conception not intended for
the purpose of determining a candidate's qualifications for election to the House of Representatives as required by the
1987 Constitution. As it were, residence, for the purpose of meeting the qualification for an elective position, has a
settled meaning in our jurisdiction.
Article 50 of the Civil Code decrees that "[f]or the exercise of civil rights and the fulfillment of civil obligations, the
domicile of natural persons is their place of habitual residence." In Ong vs. Republic 20 this court took the concept of
domicile to mean an individual's "permanent home", "a place to which, whenever absent for business or for pleasure,
one intends to return, and depends on facts and circumstances in the sense that they disclose intent." 21 Based on the
foregoing, domicile includes the twin elements of "the fact of residing or physical presence in a fixed place" and
animus manendi, or the intention of returning there permanently.
Residence, in its ordinary conception, implies the factual relationship of an individual to a certain place. It is the
physical presence of a person in a given area, community or country. The essential distinction between residence and
domicile in law is that residence involves the intent to leave when the purpose for which the resident has taken up his
abode ends. One may seek a place for purposes such as pleasure, business, or health. If a person's intent be to
remain, it becomes his domicile; if his intent is to leave as soon as his purpose is established it is residence. 22 It is
thus, quite perfectly normal for an individual to have different residences in various places. However, a person can
only have a single domicile, unless, for various reasons, he successfully abandons his domicile in favor of another
domicile of choice. In Uytengsu vs. Republic, 23 we laid this distinction quite clearly:
There is a difference between domicile and residence. "Residence" is used to indicate a
place of abode, whether permanent or temporary; "domicile" denotes a fixed permanent
residence to which, when absent, one has the intention of returning. A man may have a
residence in one place and a domicile in another. Residence is not domicile, but domicile is
residence coupled with the intention to remain for an unlimited time. A man can have but one
domicile for the same purpose at any time, but he may have numerous places of residence.
His place of residence is generally his place of domicile, but it is not by any means
necessarily so since no length of residence without intention of remaining will constitute
domicile.
For political purposes the concepts of residence and domicile are dictated by the peculiar criteria of political laws. As
these concepts have evolved in our election law, what has clearly and unequivocally emerged is the fact that
residence for election purposes is used synonymously with domicile.
In Nuval vs. Guray, 24 the Court held that "the term residence. . . is synonymous with domicile which imports not only
intention to reside in a fixed place, but also personal presence in that place, coupled with conduct indicative of such
intention." 25 Larena vs. Teves 26 reiterated the same doctrine in a case involving the qualifications of the respondent
therein to the post of Municipal President of Dumaguete, Negros Oriental. Faypon vs. Quirino, 27 held that the
absence from residence to pursue studies or practice a profession or registration as a voter other than in the place
where one is elected does not constitute loss of residence. 28 So settled is the concept (of domicile) in our election law
that in these and other election law cases, this Court has stated that the mere absence of an individual from his
permanent residence without the intention to abandon it does not result in a loss or change of domicile.
The deliberations of the 1987 Constitution on the residence qualification for certain elective positions have placed
beyond doubt the principle that when the Constitution speaks of "residence" in election law, it actually means only
"domicile" to wit:
Mr. Nolledo: With respect to Section 5, I remember that in the 1971 Constitutional
Convention, there was an attempt to require residence in the place not less than one year
immediately preceding the day of the elections. So my question is: What is the Committee's
concept of residence of a candidate for the legislature? Is it actual residence or is it the
concept of domicile or constructive residence?
Mr. Davide: Madame President, insofar as the regular members of the National Assembly
are concerned, the proposed section merely provides, among others, "and a resident
thereof", that is, in the district for a period of not less than one year preceding the day of the
election. This was in effect lifted from the 1973 Constitution, the interpretation given to it was
domicile. 29
xxx xxx xxx
Mrs. Rosario Braid: The next question is on Section 7, page 2. I think Commissioner Nolledo
has raised the same point that "resident" has been interpreted at times as a matter of
intention rather than actual residence.
Mr. De los Reyes: Domicile.
Ms. Rosario Braid: Yes, So, would the gentleman consider at the proper time to go back to
actual residence rather than mere intention to reside?
Mr. De los Reyes: But we might encounter some difficulty especially considering that a
provision in the Constitution in the Article on Suffrage says that Filipinos living abroad may
vote as enacted by law. So, we have to stick to the original concept that it should be by
domicile and not physical residence. 30
In Co vs. Electoral Tribunal of the House of Representatives, 31 this Court concluded that the framers of the 1987
Constitution obviously adhered to the definition given to the term residence in election law, regarding it as having the
same meaning as domicile. 32
In the light of the principles just discussed, has petitioner Imelda Romualdez Marcos satisfied the residency
requirement mandated by Article VI, Sec. 6 of the 1987 Constitution? Of what significance is the questioned entry in
petitioner's Certificate of Candidacy stating her residence in the First Legislative District of Leyte as seven (7)
months?
It is the fact of residence, not a statement in a certificate of candidacy which ought to be decisive in determining
whether or not and individual has satisfied the constitution's residency qualification requirement. The said statement
becomes material only when there is or appears to be a deliberate attempt to mislead, misinform, or hide a fact which
would otherwise render a candidate ineligible. It would be plainly ridiculous for a candidate to deliberately and
knowingly make a statement in a certificate of candidacy which would lead to his or her disqualification.
It stands to reason therefore, that petitioner merely committed an honest mistake in jotting the word "seven" in the
space provided for the residency qualification requirement. The circumstances leading to her filing the questioned
entry obviously resulted in the subsequent confusion which prompted petitioner to write down the period of her actual
stay in Tolosa, Leyte instead of her period of residence in the First district, which was "since childhood" in the space
provided. These circumstances and events are amply detailed in the COMELEC's Second Division's questioned
resolution, albeit with a different interpretation. For instance, when herein petitioner announced that she would be
registering in Tacloban City to make her eligible to run in the First District, private respondent Montejo opposed the
same, claiming that petitioner was a resident of Tolosa, not Tacloban City. Petitioner then registered in her place of
actual residence in the First District, which is Tolosa, Leyte, a fact which she subsequently noted down in her
Certificate of Candidacy. A close look at said certificate would reveal the possible source of the confusion: the entry
for residence (Item No. 7) is followed immediately by the entry for residence in the constituency where a candidate
seeks election thus:
7. RESIDENCE (complete Address): Brgy. Olot, Tolosa, Leyte
 POST OFFICE ADDRESS FOR ELECTION PURPOSES: Brgy. Olot, Tolosa, Leyte
8. RESIDENCE IN THE CONSTITUENCY WHERE I SEEK TO
BE ELECTED IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING THE ELECTION:_________ Years and Seven
Months.
Having been forced by private respondent to register in her place of actual residence in Leyte instead of petitioner's
claimed domicile, it appears that petitioner had jotted down her period of stay in her legal residence or domicile. The
juxtaposition of entries in Item 7 and Item 8 the first requiring actual residence and the second requiring domicile
coupled with the circumstances surrounding petitioner's registration as a voter in Tolosa obviously led to her writing
down an unintended entry for which she could be disqualified. This honest mistake should not, however, be allowed
to negate the fact of residence in the First District if such fact were established by means more convincing than a
mere entry on a piece of paper.
We now proceed to the matter of petitioner's domicile.
In support of its asseveration that petitioner's domicile could not possibly be in the First District of Leyte, the Second
Division of the COMELEC, in its assailed Resolution of April 24,1995 maintains that "except for the time when
(petitioner) studied and worked for some years after graduation in Tacloban City, she continuously lived in Manila."
The Resolution additionally cites certain facts as indicative of the fact that petitioner's domicile ought to be any place
where she lived in the last few decades except Tacloban, Leyte. First, according to the Resolution, petitioner, in 1959,
resided in San Juan, Metro Manila where she was also registered voter. Then, in 1965, following the election of her
husband to the Philippine presidency, she lived in San Miguel, Manila where she as a voter. In 1978 and thereafter,
she served as a member of the Batasang Pambansa and Governor of Metro Manila. "She could not, have served
these positions if she had not been a resident of Metro Manila," the COMELEC stressed. Here is where the confusion
lies.
We have stated, many times in the past, that an individual does not lose his domicile even if he has lived and
maintained residences in different places. Residence, it bears repeating, implies a factual relationship to a given place
for various purposes. The absence from legal residence or domicile to pursue a profession, to study or to do other
things of a temporary or semi-permanent nature does not constitute loss of residence. Thus, the assertion by the
COMELEC that "she could not have been a resident of Tacloban City since childhood up to the time she filed her
certificate of candidacy because she became a resident of many places" flies in the face of settled jurisprudence in
which this Court carefully made distinctions between (actual) residence and domicile for election law purposes. In
Larena vs. Teves, 33 supra, we stressed:
[T]his court is of the opinion and so holds that a person who has his own house wherein he
lives with his family in a municipality without having ever had the intention of abandoning it,
and without having lived either alone or with his family in another municipality, has his
residence in the former municipality, notwithstanding his having registered as an elector in
the other municipality in question and having been a candidate for various insular and
provincial positions, stating every time that he is a resident of the latter municipality.
More significantly, in Faypon vs. Quirino, 34 We explained that:
A citizen may leave the place of his birth to look for "greener pastures," as the saying goes,
to improve his lot, and that, of course includes study in other places, practice of his
avocation, or engaging in business. When an election is to be held, the citizen who left his
birthplace to improve his lot may desire to return to his native town to cast his ballot but for
professional or business reasons, or for any other reason, he may not absent himself from
his professional or business activities; so there he registers himself as voter as he has the
qualifications to be one and is not willing to give up or lose the opportunity to choose the
officials who are to run the government especially in national elections. Despite such
registration, the animus revertendi to his home, to his domicile or residence of origin has not
forsaken him. This may be the explanation why the registration of a voter in a place other
than his residence of origin has not been deemed sufficient to constitute abandonment or
loss of such residence. It finds justification in the natural desire and longing of every person
to return to his place of birth. This strong feeling of attachment to the place of one's birth
must be overcome by positive proof of abandonment for another.
From the foregoing, it can be concluded that in its above-cited statements supporting its proposition that petitioner
was ineligible to run for the position of Representative of the First District of Leyte, the COMELEC was obviously
referring to petitioner's various places of (actual) residence, not her domicile. In doing so, it not only ignored settled
jurisprudence on residence in election law and the deliberations of the constitutional commission but also the
provisions of the Omnibus Election Code (B.P. 881). 35
What is undeniable, however, are the following set of facts which establish the fact of petitioner's domicile, which we
lift verbatim from the COMELEC's Second Division's assailed Resolution: 36
In or about 1938 when respondent was a little over 8 years old, she established her domicile
in Tacloban, Leyte (Tacloban City). She studied in the Holy Infant Academy in Tacloban from
1938 to 1949 when she graduated from high school. She pursued her college studies in St.
Paul's College, now Divine Word University in Tacloban, where she earned her degree in
Education. Thereafter, she taught in the Leyte Chinese School, still in Tacloban City. In 1952
she went to Manila to work with her cousin, the late speaker Daniel Z. Romualdez in his
office in the House of Representatives. In 1954, she married ex-President Ferdinand E.
Marcos when he was still a congressman of Ilocos Norte and registered there as a voter.
When her husband was elected Senator of the Republic in 1959, she and her husband lived
together in San Juan, Rizal where she registered as a voter. In 1965, when her husband was
elected President of the Republic of the Philippines, she lived with him in Malacanang Palace
and registered as a voter in San Miguel, Manila.
[I]n February 1986 (she claimed that) she and her family were abducted and kidnapped to
Honolulu, Hawaii. In November 1991, she came home to Manila. In 1992, respondent ran for
election as President of the Philippines and filed her Certificate of Candidacy wherein she
indicated that she is a resident and registered voter of San Juan, Metro Manila.
Applying the principles discussed to the facts found by COMELEC, what is inescapable is that petitioner held various
residences for different purposes during the last four decades. None of these purposes unequivocally point to an
intention to abandon her domicile of origin in Tacloban, Leyte. Moreover, while petitioner was born in Manila, as a
minor she naturally followed the domicile of her parents. She grew up in Tacloban, reached her adulthood there and
eventually established residence in different parts of the country for various reasons. Even during her husband's
presidency, at the height of the Marcos Regime's powers, petitioner kept her close ties to her domicile of origin by
establishing residences in Tacloban, celebrating her birthdays and other important personal milestones in her home
province, instituting well-publicized projects for the benefit of her province and hometown, and establishing a political
power base where her siblings and close relatives held positions of power either through the ballot or by appointment,
always with either her influence or consent. These well-publicized ties to her domicile of origin are part of the history
and lore of the quarter century of Marcos power in our country. Either they were entirely ignored in the COMELEC'S
Resolutions, or the majority of the COMELEC did not know what the rest of the country always knew: the fact of
petitioner's domicile in Tacloban, Leyte.
Private respondent in his Comment, contends that Tacloban was not petitioner's domicile of origin because she did
not live there until she was eight years old. He avers that after leaving the place in 1952, she "abandoned her
residency (sic) therein for many years and . . . (could not) re-establish her domicile in said place by merely expressing
her intention to live there again." We do not agree.
First, minor follows the domicile of his parents. As domicile, once acquired is retained until a new one is gained, it
follows that in spite of the fact of petitioner's being born in Manila, Tacloban, Leyte was her domicile of origin by
operation of law. This domicile was not established only when her father brought his family back to Leyte contrary to
private respondent's averments.
Second, domicile of origin is not easily lost. To successfully effect a change of domicile, one must demonstrate: 37
1. An actual removal or an actual change of domicile;
2. A bona fide intention of abandoning the former place of residence and establishing a new
one; and
3. Acts which correspond with the purpose.
In the absence of clear and positive proof based on these criteria, the residence of origin should be deemed to
continue. Only with evidence showing concurrence of all three requirements can the presumption of continuity or
residence be rebutted, for a change of residence requires an actual and deliberate abandonment, and one cannot
have two legal residences at the same time. 38 In the case at bench, the evidence adduced by private respondent
plainly lacks the degree of persuasiveness required to convince this court that an abandonment of domicile of origin in
favor of a domicile of choice indeed occurred. To effect an abandonment requires the voluntary act of relinquishing
petitioner's former domicile with an intent to supplant the former domicile with one of her own choosing (domicilium
voluntarium).
In this connection, it cannot be correctly argued that petitioner lost her domicile of origin by operation of law as a
result of her marriage to the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos in 1952. For there is a clearly established distinction
between the Civil Code concepts of "domicile" and "residence." 39 The presumption that the wife automatically gains
the husband's domicile by operation of law upon marriage cannot be inferred from the use of the term "residence" in
Article 110 of the Civil Code because the Civil Code is one area where the two concepts are well delineated. Dr.
Arturo Tolentino, writing on this specific area explains:
In the Civil Code, there is an obvious difference between domicile and residence. Both terms
imply relations between a person and a place; but in residence, the relation is one of fact
while in domicile it is legal or juridical, independent of the necessity of physical presence. 40
Article 110 of the Civil Code provides:
Art. 110. The husband shall fix the residence of the family. But the court may exempt the
wife from living with the husband if he should live abroad unless in the service of the
Republic.
A survey of jurisprudence relating to Article 110 or to the concepts of domicile or residence as they affect the female
spouse upon marriage yields nothing which would suggest that the female spouse automatically loses her domicile of
origin in favor of the husband's choice of residence upon marriage.
Article 110 is a virtual restatement of Article 58 of the Spanish Civil Code of 1889 which states:
La mujer esta obligada a seguir a su marido donde quiera que fije su residencia. Los
Tribunales, sin embargo, podran con justa causa eximirla de esta obligacion cuando el
marido transende su residencia a ultramar o' a pais extranjero.
Note the use of the phrase "donde quiera su fije de residencia" in the aforequoted article, which means wherever (the
husband) wishes to establish residence. This part of the article clearly contemplates only actual residence because it
refers to a positive act of fixing a family home or residence. Moreover, this interpretation is further strengthened by the
phrase "cuando el marido translade su residencia" in the same provision which means, "when the husband shall
transfer his residence," referring to another positive act of relocating the family to another home or place of actual
residence. The article obviously cannot be understood to refer to domicile which is a fixed,
fairly-permanent concept when it plainly connotes the possibility of transferring from one place to another not only
once, but as often as the husband may deem fit to move his family, a circumstance more consistent with the concept
of actual residence.
The right of the husband to fix the actual residence is in harmony with the intention of the law to strengthen and unify
the family, recognizing the fact that the husband and the wife bring into the marriage different domiciles (of origin).
This difference could, for the sake of family unity, be reconciled only by allowing the husband to fix a single place of
actual residence.
Very significantly, Article 110 of the Civil Code is found under Title V under the heading: RIGHTS AND
OBLIGATIONS BETWEEN HUSBAND AND WIFE. Immediately preceding Article 110 is Article 109 which obliges the
husband and wife to live together, thus:
Art. 109. The husband and wife are obligated to live together, observe mutual respect and
fidelity and render mutual help and support.
The duty to live together can only be fulfilled if the husband and wife are physically together. This takes into account
the situations where the couple has many residences (as in the case of the petitioner). If the husband has to stay in or
transfer to any one of their residences, the wife should necessarily be with him in order that they may "live together."
Hence, it is illogical to conclude that Art. 110 refers to "domicile" and not to "residence." Otherwise, we shall be faced
with a situation where the wife is left in the domicile while the husband, for professional or other reasons, stays in one
of their (various) residences. As Dr. Tolentino further explains:
Residence and Domicile Whether the word "residence" as used with reference to
particular matters is synonymous with "domicile" is a question of some difficulty, and the
ultimate decision must be made from a consideration of the purpose and intent with which
the word is used. Sometimes they are used synonymously, at other times they are
distinguished from one another.
xxx xxx xxx
Residence in the civil law is a material fact, referring to the physical presence of a person in
a place. A person can have two or more residences, such as a country residence and a city
residence. Residence is acquired by living in place; on the other hand, domicile can exist
without actually living in the place. The important thing for domicile is that, once residence
has been established in one place, there be an intention to stay there permanently, even if
residence is also established in some other
place. 41
In fact, even the matter of a common residence between the husband and the wife during the marriage is not an iron-
clad principle; In cases applying the Civil Code on the question of a common matrimonial residence, our
jurisprudence has recognized certain situations 42 where the spouses could not be compelled to live with each other
such that the wife is either allowed to maintain a residence different from that of her husband or, for obviously
practical reasons, revert to her original domicile (apart from being allowed to opt for a new one). In De la Vina vs.
Villareal 43 this Court held that "[a] married woman may acquire a residence or domicile separate from that of her
husband during the existence of the marriage where the husband has given cause for divorce." 44 Note that the Court
allowed the wife either to obtain new residence or to choose a new domicile in such an event. In instances where the
wife actually opts, .under the Civil Code, to live separately from her husband either by taking new residence or
reverting to her domicile of origin, the Court has held that the wife could not be compelled to live with her husband on
pain of contempt. In Arroyo vs. Vasques de Arroyo 45 the Court held that:
Upon examination of the authorities, we are convinced that it is not within the province of the
courts of this country to attempt to compel one of the spouses to cohabit with, and render
conjugal rights to, the other. Of course where the property rights of one of the pair are
invaded, an action for restitution of such rights can be maintained. But we are disinclined to
sanction the doctrine that an order, enforcible (sic) by process of contempt, may be entered
to compel the restitution of the purely personal right of consortium. At best such an order can
be effective for no other purpose than to compel the spouses to live under the same roof;
and he experience of those countries where the courts of justice have assumed to compel
the cohabitation of married people shows that the policy of the practice is extremely
questionable. Thus in England, formerly the Ecclesiastical Court entertained suits for the
restitution of conjugal rights at the instance of either husband or wife; and if the facts were
found to warrant it, that court would make a mandatory decree, enforceable by process of
contempt in case of disobedience, requiring the delinquent party to live with the other and
render conjugal rights. Yet this practice was sometimes criticized even by the judges who felt
bound to enforce such orders, and in Weldon v. Weldon (9 P.D. 52), decided in 1883, Sir
James Hannen, President in the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division of the High Court of
Justice, expressed his regret that the English law on the subject was not the same as that
which prevailed in Scotland, where a decree of adherence, equivalent to the decree for the
restitution of conjugal rights in England, could be obtained by the injured spouse, but could
not be enforced by imprisonment. Accordingly, in obedience to the growing sentiment
against the practice, the Matrimonial Causes Act (1884) abolished the remedy of
imprisonment; though a decree for the restitution of conjugal rights can still be procured, and
in case of disobedience may serve in appropriate cases as the basis of an order for the
periodical payment of a stipend in the character of alimony.
In the voluminous jurisprudence of the United States, only one court, so far as we can
discover, has ever attempted to make a preemptory order requiring one of the spouses to
 live with the other; and that was in a case where a wife was ordered to follow and live with
her husband, who had changed his domicile to the City of New Orleans. The decision
referred to (Bahn v. Darby, 36 La. Ann., 70) was based on a provision of the Civil Code of
Louisiana similar to article 56 of the Spanish Civil Code. It was decided many years ago, and
the doctrine evidently has not been fruitful even in the State of Louisiana. In other states of
the American Union the idea of enforcing cohabitation by process of contempt is rejected.
(21 Cyc., 1148).
In a decision of January 2, 1909, the Supreme Court of Spain appears to have affirmed an
order of the Audiencia Territorial de Valladolid requiring a wife to return to the marital
domicile, and in the alternative, upon her failure to do so, to make a particular disposition of
certain money and effects then in her possession and to deliver to her husband, as
administrator of the ganancial property, all income, rents, and interest which might accrue to
her from the property which she had brought to the marriage. (113 Jur. Civ., pp. 1, 11) But it
does not appear that this order for the return of the wife to the marital domicile was
sanctioned by any other penalty than the consequences that would be visited upon her in
respect to the use and control of her property; and it does not appear that her disobedience
to that order would necessarily have been followed by imprisonment for contempt.
Parenthetically when Petitioner was married to then Congressman Marcos, in 1954, petitioner was obliged by
virtue of Article 110 of the Civil Code to follow her husband's actual place of residence fixed by him. The problem
here is that at that time, Mr. Marcos had several places of residence, among which were San Juan, Rizal and Batac,
Ilocos Norte. There is no showing which of these places Mr. Marcos did fix as his family's residence. But assuming
that Mr. Marcos had fixed any of these places as the conjugal residence, what petitioner gained upon marriage was
actual residence. She did not lose her domicile of origin.
On the other hand, the common law concept of "matrimonial domicile" appears to have been incorporated, as a result
of our jurisprudential experiences after the drafting of the Civil Code of 1950, into the New Family Code. To
underscore the difference between the intentions of the Civil Code and the Family Code drafters, the term residence
has been supplanted by the term domicile in an entirely new provision (Art. 69) distinctly different in meaning and
spirit from that found in Article 110. The provision recognizes revolutionary changes in the concept of women's rights
in the intervening years by making the choice of domicile a product of mutual agreement between the spouses. 46
Without as much belaboring the point, the term residence may mean one thing in civil law (or under the Civil Code)
and quite another thing in political law. What stands clear is that insofar as the Civil Code is concerned-affecting the
rights and obligations of husband and wife the term residence should only be interpreted to mean "actual
residence." The inescapable conclusion derived from this unambiguous civil law delineation therefore, is that when
petitioner married the former President in 1954, she kept her domicile of origin and merely gained a new home, not a
domicilium necessarium.
Even assuming for the sake of argument that petitioner gained a new "domicile" after her marriage and only acquired
a right to choose a new one after her husband died, petitioner's acts following her return to the country clearly indicate
that she not only impliedly but expressly chose her domicile of origin (assuming this was lost by operation of law) as
her domicile. This "choice" was unequivocally expressed in her letters to the Chairman of the PCGG when petitioner
sought the PCGG's permission to "rehabilitate (our) ancestral house in Tacloban and Farm in Olot, Leyte. . . to make
them livable for the Marcos family to have a home in our homeland." 47 Furthermore, petitioner obtained her residence
certificate in 1992 in Tacloban, Leyte, while living in her brother's house, an act which supports the domiciliary
intention clearly manifested in her letters to the PCGG Chairman. She could not have gone straight to her home in
San Juan, as it was in a state of disrepair, having been previously looted by vandals. Her "homes" and "residences"
following her arrival in various parts of Metro Manila merely qualified as temporary or "actual residences," not
domicile. Moreover, and proceeding from our discussion pointing out specific situations where the female spouse
either reverts to her domicile of origin or chooses a new one during the subsistence of the marriage, it would be highly
illogical for us to assume that she cannot regain her original domicile upon the death of her husband absent a positive
act of selecting a new one where situations exist within the subsistence of the marriage itself where the wife gains a
domicile different from her husband.
In the light of all the principles relating to residence and domicile enunciated by this court up to this point, we are
persuaded that the facts established by the parties weigh heavily in favor of a conclusion supporting petitioner's claim
of legal residence or domicile in the First District of Leyte.
II. The jurisdictional issue
Petitioner alleges that the jurisdiction of the COMELEC had already lapsed considering that the assailed resolutions
were rendered on April 24, 1995, fourteen (14) days before the election in violation of Section 78 of the Omnibus
Election Code. 48 Moreover, petitioner contends that it is the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal and not the
COMELEC which has jurisdiction over the election of members of the House of Representatives in accordance with
Article VI Sec. 17 of the Constitution. This is untenable.
It is a settled doctrine that a statute requiring rendition of judgment within a specified time is generally construed to be
merely directory, 49 "so that non-compliance with them does not invalidate the judgment on the theory that if the
statute had intended such result it would have clearly indicated it." 50 The difference between a mandatory and a
directory provision is often made on grounds of necessity. Adopting the same view held by several American
authorities, this court in Marcelino vs. Cruz held that: 51
The difference between a mandatory and directory provision is often determined on grounds
of expediency, the reason being that less injury results to the general public by disregarding
than enforcing the letter of the law.
In Trapp v. Mc Cormick, a case calling for the interpretation of a statute containing a
limitation of thirty (30) days within which a decree may be entered without the consent of
counsel, it was held that "the statutory provisions which may be thus departed from with
impunity, without affecting the validity of statutory proceedings, are usually those which
relate to the mode or time of doing that which is essential to effect the aim and purpose of
the Legislature or some incident of the essential act." Thus, in said case, the statute under
examination was construed merely to be directory.
The mischief in petitioner's contending that the COMELEC should have abstained from rendering a decision after the
period stated in the Omnibus Election Code because it lacked jurisdiction, lies in the fact that our courts and other
quasi-judicial bodies would then refuse to render judgments merely on the ground of having failed to reach a decision
within a given or prescribed period.
In any event, with the enactment of Sections 6 and 7 of R.A. 6646 in relation to Section 78 of B.P. 881, 52 it is evident
that the respondent Commission does not lose jurisdiction to hear and decide a pending disqualification case under
Section 78 of B.P. 881 even after the elections.
As to the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal's supposed assumption of jurisdiction over the issue of
petitioner's qualifications after the May 8, 1995 elections, suffice it to say that HRET's jurisdiction as the sole judge of
all contests relating to the elections, returns and qualifications of members of Congress begins only after a candidate
has become a member of the House of Representatives. 53 Petitioner not being a member of the House of
Representatives, it is obvious that the HRET at this point has no jurisdiction over the question.
It would be an abdication of many of the ideals enshrined in the 1987 Constitution for us to either to ignore or
deliberately make distinctions in law solely on the basis of the personality of a petitioner in a case. Obviously a
distinction was made on such a ground here. Surely, many established principles of law, even of election laws were
flouted for the sake perpetuating power during the pre-EDSA regime. We renege on these sacred ideals, including the
meaning and spirit of EDSA ourselves bending established principles of principles of law to deny an individual what
he or she justly deserves in law. Moreover, in doing so, we condemn ourselves to repeat the mistakes of the past.
WHEREFORE, having determined that petitioner possesses 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, May 11, and May 25, 1995 are hereby SET ASIDE. Respondent COMELEC is hereby directed to order the
Provincial Board of Canvassers to proclaim petitioner as the duly elected Representative of the First District of Leyte.
SO ORDERED.
 EN BANC
[G.R. No. 134015. July 19, 1999]
JUAN DOMINO, petitioner, vs. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS, NARCISO Ra. GRAFILO, JR., EDDY B. JAVA,
JUAN P. BAYONITO, JR., ROSARIO SAMSON and DIONISIO P. LIM, SR., respondents.
LUCILLE CHIONGBIAN-SOLON, intervenor.
DECISION
DAVIDE, JR., C.J.:
Challenged in this case for certiorari with a prayer for preliminary injunction are the Resolution of 6 May 1998i
of the Second Division of the Commission on Elections (hereafter COMELEC), declaring petitioner Juan Domino
(hereafter DOMINO) disqualified as candidate for representative of the Lone Legislative District of the Province of
Sarangani in the 11 May 1998 elections, and the Decision of 29 May 1998 ii of the COMELEC en banc denying
DOMINOs motion for reconsideration.
The antecedents are not disputed.
On 25 March 1998, DOMINO filed his certificate of candidacy for the position of Representative of the Lone
Legislative District of the Province of Sarangani indicating in item nine (9) of his certificate that he had resided in the
constituency where he seeks to be elected for one (1) year and two (2) months immediately preceding the election.iii
On 30 March 1998, private respondents Narciso Ra. Grafilo, Jr., Eddy B. Java, Juan P. Bayonito, Jr., Rosario
Samson and Dionisio P. Lim, Sr., filed with the COMELEC a Petition to Deny Due Course to or Cancel Certificate of
Candidacy, which was docketed as SPA No. 98-022 and assigned to the Second Division of the COMELEC. Private
respondents alleged that DOMINO, contrary to his declaration in the certificate of candidacy, is not a resident, much
less a registered voter, of the province of Sarangani where he seeks election. To substantiate their allegations,
private respondents presented the following evidence:
1. Annex A the Certificate of Candidacy of respondent for the position of Congressman of the Lone
District of the Province of Sarangani filed with the Office of the Provincial Election Supervisor of
Sarangani on March 25, 1998, where in item 4 thereof he wrote his date of birth as December 5,
1953; in item 9, he claims he have resided in the constituency where he seeks election for one (1)
year and two (2) months; and, in item 10, that he is registered voter of Precinct No. 14A-1,
Barangay Poblacion, Alabel, Sarangani;
2. Annex B Voters Registration Record with SN 31326504 dated June 22, 1997 indicating
respondents registration at Precinct No. 4400-A, Old Balara, Quezon City;
3. Annex C Respondents Community Tax Certificate No. 11132214C dated January 15, 1997;
4. Annex D Certified true copy of the letter of Herson D. Dema-ala, Deputy Provincial & Municipal
Treasurer of Alabel, Sarangani, dated February 26, 1998, addressed to Mr. Conrado G. Butil,
which reads:
In connection with your letter of even date, we are furnishing you herewith certified xerox copy
of the triplicate copy of COMMUNITY TAX CERTIFICATE NO. 11132214C in the name of Juan
Domino.
Furthermore, Community Tax Certificate No. 11132212C of the same stub was issued to
Carlito Engcong on September 5, 1997, while Certificate No. 11132213C was also issued to Mr. Juan
Domino but was cancelled and serial no. 11132215C was issued in the name of Marianita Letigio on
September 8, 1997.
5. Annex E The triplicate copy of the Community Tax Certificate No. 11132214C in the name of
Juan Domino dated September 5, 1997;
6. Annex F Copy of the letter of Provincial Treasurer Lourdes P. Riego dated March 2, 1998
addressed to Mr. Herson D. Dema-ala, Deputy Provincial Treasurer and Municipal Treasurer of
Alabel, Sarangani, which states:
For easy reference, kindly turn-over to the undersigned for safekeeping, the stub of Community
Tax Certificate containing Nos. 11132201C-11132250C issued to you on June 13, 1997 and paid
under Official Receipt No. 7854744.
Upon request of Congressman James L. Chiongbian.
7. Annex G Certificate of Candidacy of respondent for the position of Congressman in the 3rd District
of Quezon City for the 1995 elections filed with the Office of the Regional Election Director,
National Capital Region, on March 17, 1995, where, in item 4 thereof, he wrote his birth date as
December 22, 1953; in item 8 thereof his residence in the constituency where I seek to be elected
immediately preceding the election as 3 years and 5 months; and, in item 9, that he is a
registered voter of Precinct No. 182, Barangay Balara, Quezon City;
8. Annex H a copy of the APPLICATION FOR TRANSFER OF REGISTRATION RECORDS DUE
TO CHANGE OF RESIDENCE of respondent dated August 30, 1997 addressed to and received
by Election Officer Mantil Alim, Alabel, Sarangani, on September 22, 1997, stating among others,
that [T]he undersigneds previous residence is at 24 Bonifacio Street, Ayala Heights, Quezon City,
III District, Quezon City; wherein he is a registered voter and that for business and residence
purposes, the undersigned has transferred and conducts his business and reside at Barangay
Poblacion, Alabel, Province of Sarangani prior to this application;
9. Annex I Copy of the SWORN APPLICATION FOR CANCELLATION OF VOTERS [TRANSFER
OF] PREVIOUS REGISTRATION of respondent subscribed and sworn to on 22 October 1997
before Election Officer Mantil Allim at Alabel, Sarangani.iv
For his defense, DOMINO maintains that he had complied with the one-year residence requirement and that
he has been residing in Sarangani since January 1997. In support of the said contention, DOMINO presented before
the COMELEC the following exhibits, to wit:
1. Annex 1 - Copy of the Contract of Lease between Nora Dacaldacal as Lessor and Administrator
of the properties of deceased spouses Maximo and Remedios Dacaldacal and respondent as
Lessee executed on January 15, 1997, subscribed and sworn to before Notary Public Johnny P.
Landero;
2. Annex 2 - Copy of the Extra-Judicial Settlement of Estate with Absolute Deed of sale executed by
and between the heirs of deceased spouses Maximo and Remedios Dacaldacal, namely: Maria
Lourdes, Jupiter and Beberlie and the respondent on November 4, 1997, subscribed and sworn to
before Notary Public Jose A. Alegario;
3. Annex 3 - True Carbon Xerox copy of the Decision dated January 19, 1998, of the Metropolitan
Trial Court of Metro Manila, Branch 35, Quezon City, in Election Case NO. 725 captioned as In
the Matter of the Petition for the Exclusion from the List of voters of Precinct No. 4400-A Brgy. Old
Balara, Quezon City, Spouses Juan and Zorayda Domino, Petitioners, -versus- Elmer M.
Kayanan, Election Officer, Quezon City, District III, and the Board of Election Inspectors of
Precinct No. 4400-A, Old Balara, Quezon City, Respondents. The dispositive portion of which
reads:
1. Declaring the registration of petitioners as voters of Precinct No. 4400-A, Barangay
Old Balara, in District III Quezon City as completely erroneous as petitioners were no longer residents
of Quezon City but of Alabel, Sarangani where they have been residing since December 1996;
 2. Declaring this erroneous registration of petitioners in Quezon City as done in good
faith due to an honest mistake caused by circumstances beyond their control and without any fault of
petitioners;
3. Approving the transfer of registration of voters of petitioners from Precinct No. 4400-A
of Barangay Old Balara, Quezon City to Precinct No. 14A1 of Barangay Poblacion of Alabel,
Sarangani; and
4. Ordering the respondents to immediately transfer and forward all the election/voters
registration records of the petitioners in Quezon City to the Election Officer, the Election Registration
Board and other Comelec Offices of Alabel, Sarangani where the petitioners are obviously qualified to
exercise their respective rights of suffrage.
4. Annex 4 - Copy of the Application for Transfer of Registration Records due to Change of
Residence addressed to Mantil Alim, COMELEC Registrar, Alabel, Sarangani, dated August 30,
1997.
5. Annex 5 - Certified True Copy of the Notice of Approval of Application, the roster of applications
for registration approved by the Election Registration Board on October 20, 1997, showing the
spouses Juan and Zorayda Bailon Domino listed as numbers 111 and 112 both under Precinct
No. 14A1, the last two names in the slate indicated as transferees without VRR numbers and their
application dated August 30, 1997 and September 30, 1997, respectively.
6. Annex 6 - same as Annex 5
7. Annex 6-a - Copy of the Sworn Application for Cancellation of Voters Previous Registration
(Annex I, Petition);
8. Annex 7 - Copy of claim card in the name of respondent showing his VRR No. 31326504 dated
October 20, 1997 as a registered voter of Precinct No. 14A1, Barangay Poblacion, Alabel,
Sarangani;
9. Annex 7-a - Certification dated April 16, 1998, issued by Atty. Elmer M. Kayanan, Election Officer
IV, District III, Quezon City, which reads:
This is to certify that the spouses JUAN and ZORAYDA DOMINO are no longer registered
voters of District III, Quezon City. Their registration records (VRR) were transferred and are now in the
possession of the Election Officer of Alabel, Sarangani.
This certification is being issued upon the request of Mr. JUAN DOMINO.
10. Annex 8 - Affidavit of Nora Dacaldacal and Maria Lourdes Dacaldacal stating the circumstances
and incidents detailing their alleged acquaintance with respondent.
11. Annexes 8-a, 8-b, 8-c and 8-d - Copies of the uniform affidavits of witness Myrna Dalaguit, Hilario
Fuentes, Coraminda Lomibao and Elena V. Piodos subscribed and sworn to before Notary Public
Bonifacio F. Doria, Jr., on April 18, 1998, embodying their alleged personal knowledge of
respondents residency in Alabel, Sarangani;
12. Annex 8-e - A certification dated April 20, 1998, subscribed and sworn to before Notary Public
Bonifacio, containing a listing of the names of fifty-five(55) residents of Alabel, Sarangani,
declaring and certifying under oath that they personally know the respondent as a permanent
resident of Alabel, Sarangani since January 1997 up to present;
13. Annexes 9, 9-a and 9-b- Copies of Individual Income Tax Return for the year 1997, BIR form
2316 and W-2, respectively, of respondent; and,
14. Annex 10 - The affidavit of respondent reciting the chronology of events and circumstances
leading to his relocation to the Municipality of Alabel, Sarangani, appending Annexes A, B, C, D,
D-1, E, F, G with sub-markings G-1 and G-2 and H his CTC No. 111`32214C dated September 5,
1997, which are the same as Annexes 1, 2, 4, 5, 6-a, 3, 7, 9 with sub-markings 9-a and 9-b
except Annex H.v
On 6 May 1998, the COMELEC 2nd Division promulgated a resolution declaring DOMINO disqualified as
candidate for the position of representative of the lone district of Sarangani for lack of the one-year residence
requirement and likewise ordered the cancellation of his certificate of candidacy, on the basis of the following findings:
What militates against respondents claim that he has met the residency requirement for the position sought is
his own Voters Registration Record No. 31326504 dated June 22, 1997 [Annex B, Petition] and his address indicated
as 24 Bonifacio St., Ayala Heights, Old Balara, Quezon City. This evidence, standing alone, negates all his
protestations that he established residence at Barangay Poblacion, Alabel, Sarangani, as early as January 1997. It is
highly improbable, nay incredible, for respondent who previously ran for the same position in the 3rd Legislative
District of Quezon City during the elections of 1995 to unwittingly forget the residency requirement for the office
sought.
Counting, therefore, from the day after June 22, 1997 when respondent registered at Precinct No. 4400-A, up
to and until the day of the elections on May 11, 1998, respondent clearly lacks the one (1) year residency requirement
provided for candidates for Member of the House of Representatives under Section 6, Article VI of the Constitution.
All told, petitioners evidence conspire to attest to respondents lack of residence in the constituency where he
seeks election and while it may be conceded that he is a registered voter as contemplated under Section 12 of R.A.
8189, he lacks the qualification to run for the position of Congressman for the Lone District of the Province of
Sarangani.vi
On 11 May 1998, the day of the election, the COMELEC issued Supplemental Omnibus Resolution No. 3046,
ordering that the votes cast for DOMINO be counted but to suspend the proclamation if winning, considering that the
Resolution disqualifying him as candidate had not yet become final and executory.vii
The result of the election, per Statement of Votes certified by the Chairman of the Provincial Board of
Canvassers,viii shows that DOMINO garnered the highest number of votes over his opponents for the position of
Congressman of the Province of Sarangani.
On 15 May 1998, DOMINO filed a motion for reconsideration of the Resolution dated 6 May 1998, which was
denied by the COMELEC en banc in its decision dated 29 May 1998. Hence, the present Petition for Certiorari with
prayer for Preliminary Mandatory Injunction alleging, in the main, that the COMELEC committed grave abuse of
discretion amounting to excess or lack of jurisdiction when it ruled that he did not meet the one-year residence
requirement.
On 14 July 1998, acting on DOMINOs Motion for Issuance of Temporary Restraining Order, the Court directed
the parties to maintain the status quo prevailing at the time of the filing of the instant petition.ix
On 15 September 1998, Lucille L. Chiongbian-Solon, (hereafter INTERVENOR), the candidate receiving the
second highest number of votes, was allowed by the Court to Intervene.x
INTERVENOR in her Motion for Leave to Intervene and in her Comment in Interventionxi is asking the Court to
uphold the disqualification of petitioner Juan Domino and to proclaim her as the duly elected representative of
Sarangani in the 11 May 1998 elections.
Before us DOMINO raised the following issues for resolution, to wit:
a. Whether or not the judgment of the Metropolitan Trial Court of Quezon City declaring petitioner as
resident of Sarangani and not of Quezon City is final, conclusive and binding upon the whole
world, including the Commission on Elections.
b. Whether or not petitioner herein has resided in the subject congressional district for at least one
(1) year immediately preceding the May 11, 1998 elections; and
c. Whether or not respondent COMELEC has jurisdiction over the petition a quo for the
disqualification of petitioner.xii
The first issue.
The contention of DOMINO that the decision of the Metropolitan Trial Court of Quezon City in the exclusion
proceedings declaring him a resident of the Province of Sarangani and not of Quezon City is final and conclusive
upon the COMELEC cannot be sustained.
 The COMELEC has jurisdiction as provided in Sec. 78, Art. IX of the Omnibus Election Code, over a petition
to deny due course to or cancel certificate of candidacy. In the exercise of the said jurisdiction, it is within the
competence of the COMELEC to determine whether false representation as to material facts was made in the
certificate of candidacy, that will include, among others, the residence of the candidate.
The determination of the Metropolitan Trial Court of Quezon City in the exclusion proceedings as to the right of
DOMINO to be included or excluded from the list of voters in the precinct within its territorial jurisdiction, does not
preclude the COMELEC, in the determination of DOMINOs qualification as a candidate, to pass upon the issue of
compliance with the residency requirement.
The proceedings for the exclusion or inclusion of voters in the list of voters are summary in character. Thus,
the factual findings of the trial court and its resultant conclusions in the exclusion proceedings on matters other than
the right to vote in the precinct within its territorial jurisdiction are not conclusive upon the COMELEC. Although the
court in inclusion or exclusion proceedings may pass upon any question necessary to decide the issue raised
including the questions of citizenship and residence of the challenged voter, the authority to order the inclusion in or
exclusion from the list of voters necessarily caries with it the power to inquire into and settle all matters essential to
the exercise of said authority. However, except for the right to remain in the list of voters or for being excluded
therefrom for the particular election in relation to which the proceedings had been held, a decision in an exclusion or
inclusion proceeding, even if final and unappealable, does not acquire the nature of res judicata.xiii In this sense, it
does not operate as a bar to any future action that a party may take concerning the subject passed upon in the
proceeding.xiv Thus, a decision in an exclusion proceeding would neither be conclusive on the voters political status,
nor bar subsequent proceedings on his right to be registered as a voter in any other election.xv
Thus, in Tan Cohon v. Election Registrarxvi we ruled that:
xxx It is made clear that even as it is here held that the order of the City Court in question has become final, the same
does not constitute res adjudicata as to any of the matters therein contained. It is ridiculous to suppose that such an
important and intricate matter of citizenship may be passed upon and determined with finality in such a summary and
peremptory proceeding as that of inclusion and exclusion of persons in the registry list of voters. Even if the City Court
had granted appellants petition for inclusion in the permanent list of voters on the allegation that she is a Filipino
citizen qualified to vote, her alleged Filipino citizenship would still have been left open to question.
Moreover, the Metropolitan Trial Court of Quezon City in its 18 January decision exceeded its jurisdiction
when it declared DOMINO a resident of the Province of Sarangani, approved and ordered the transfer of his voters
registration from Precinct No. 4400-A of Barangay Old Balara, Quezon City to precinct 14A1 of Barangay Poblacion,
Alabel, Sarangani. It is not within the competence of the trial court, in an exclusion proceedings, to declare the
challenged voter a resident of another municipality. The jurisdiction of the lower court over exclusion cases is limited
only to determining the right of voter to remain in the list of voters or to declare that the challenged voter is not
qualified to vote in the precinct in which he is registered, specifying the ground of the voters disqualification. The trial
court has no power to order the change or transfer of registration from one place of residence to another for it is the
function of the election Registration Board as provided under Section 12 of R.A. No. 8189.xvii The only effect of the
decision of the lower court excluding the challenged voter from the list of voters, is for the Election Registration Board,
upon receipt of the final decision, to remove the voters registration record from the corresponding book of voters,
enter the order of exclusion therein, and thereafter place the record in the inactive file.xviii
Finally, the application of the rule on res judicata is unavailing. Identity of parties, subject matter and cause of
action are indispensable requirements for the application of said doctrine. Neither herein Private Respondents nor
INTERVENOR, is a party in the exclusion proceedings. The Petition for Exclusion was filed by DOMINO himself and
his wife, praying that he and his wife be excluded from the Voters List on the ground of erroneous registration while
the Petition to Deny Due Course to or Cancel Certificate of Candidacy was filed by private respondents against
DOMINO for alleged false representation in his certificate of candidacy. For the decision to be a basis for the
dismissal by reason of res judicata, it is essential that there must be between the first and the second action identity
of parties, identity of subject matter and identity of causes of action.xix In the present case, the aforesaid essential
requisites are not present. In the case of Nuval v. Guray, et al.,xx the Supreme Court in resolving a similar issue ruled
that:
The question to be solved under the first assignment of error is whether or not the judgment rendered in the
case of the petition for the exclusion of Norberto Gurays name from the election list of Luna, is res judicata, so as to
prevent the institution and prosecution of an action in quo warranto, which is now before us.
The procedure prescribed by section 437 of the Administrative Code, as amended by Act No. 3387, is of a
summary character and the judgment rendered therein is not appealable except when the petition is tried before the
justice of the peace of the capital or the circuit judge, in which case it may be appealed to the judge of first instance,
with whom said two lower judges have concurrent jurisdiction.
The petition for exclusion was presented by Gregorio Nuval in his dual capacity as qualified voter of the
municipality of Luna, and as a duly registered candidate for the office of president of said municipality, against
Norberto Guray as a registered voter in the election list of said municipality. The present proceeding of quo warranto
was interposed by Gregorio Nuval in his capacity as a registered candidate voted for the office of municipal president
of Luna, against Norberto Guray, as an elected candidate for the same office. Therefore, there is no identity of parties
in the two cases, since it is not enough that there be an identity of persons, but there must be an identity of capacities
in which said persons litigate. ( Art. 1259 of the Civil Code; Bowler vs. Estate of Alvarez, 23 Phil., 561; 34 Corpus
Juris, p. 756, par. 1165)
In said case of the petition for the exclusion, the object of the litigation, or the litigious matter was the exclusion
of Norberto Guray as a voter from the election list of the municipality of Luna, while in the present quo warranto
proceeding, the object of the litigation, or the litigious matter is his exclusion or expulsion from the office to which he
has been elected. Neither does there exist, then, any identity in the object of the litigation, or the litigious matter.
In said case of the petition for exclusion, the cause of action was that Norberto Guray had not the six months
legal residence in the municipality of Luna to be a qualified voter thereof, while in the present proceeding of quo
warranto, the cause of action is that Norberto Guray has not the one years legal residence required for eligibility to the
office of municipal president of Luna. Neither does there exist therefore, identity of causes of action.
In order that res judicata may exist the following are necessary: (a) identity of parties; (b) identity of things; and
(c) identity of issues (Aquino vs. Director of Lands, 39 Phil. 850). And as in the case of the petition for exclusion and
in the present quo warranto proceeding, as there is no identity of parties, or of things or litigious matter, or of issues or
causes of action, there is no res judicata.
The Second Issue.
Was DOMINO a resident of the Province of Sarangani for at least one year immediately preceding the 11 May
1998 election as stated in his certificate of candidacy?
We hold in the negative.
It is doctrinally settled that the term residence, as used in the law prescribing the qualifications for suffrage and
for elective office, means the same thing as domicile, which imports not only an intention to reside in a fixed place but
also personal presence in that place, coupled with conduct indicative of such intention.xxi Domicile denotes a fixed
permanent residence to which, whenever absent for business, pleasure, or some other reasons, one intends to
return.xxii Domicile is a question of intention and circumstances. In the consideration of circumstances, three rules
must be borne in mind, namely: (1) that a man must have a residence or domicile somewhere; (2) when once
established it remains until a new one is acquired; and (3) a man can have but one residence or domicile at a time.xxiii
Records show that petitioners domicile of origin was Candon, Ilocos Surxxiv and that sometime in 1991, he
acquired a new domicile of choice at 24 Bonifacio St. Ayala Heights, Old Balara, Quezon City, as shown by his
certificate of candidacy for the position of representative of the 3rd District of Quezon City in the May 1995 election.
Petitioner is now claiming that he had effectively abandoned his residence in Quezon City and has established a new
domicile of choice at the Province of Sarangani.
A persons domicile once established is considered to continue and will not be deemed lost until a new one is
established.xxv To successfully effect a change of domicile one must demonstrate an actual removal or an actual
change of domicile; a bona fide intention of abandoning the former place of residence and establishing a new one and
definite acts which correspond with the purpose.xxvi In other words, there must basically be animus manendi coupled
with animus non revertendi. The purpose to remain in or at the domicile of choice must be for an indefinite period of
time; the change of residence must be voluntary; and the residence at the place chosen for the new domicile must be
actual.xxvii
 It is the contention of petitioner that his actual physical presence in Alabel, Sarangani since December 1996
was sufficiently established by the lease of a house and lot located therein in January 1997 and by the affidavits and
certifications under oath of the residents of that place that they have seen petitioner and his family residing in their
locality.
While this may be so, actual and physical is not in itself sufficient to show that from said date he had
transferred his residence in that place. To establish a new domicile of choice, personal presence in the place must be
coupled with conduct indicative of that intention. While residence simply requires bodily presence in a given place,
domicile requires not only such bodily presence in that place but also a declared and probable intent to make it ones
fixed and permanent place of abode, ones home.xxviii
As a general rule, the principal elements of domicile, physical presence in the locality involved and intention to
adopt it as a domicile, must concur in order to establish a new domicile. No change of domicile will result if either of
these elements is absent. Intention to acquire a domicile without actual residence in the locality does not result in
acquisition of domicile, nor does the fact of physical presence without intention.xxix
The lease contract entered into sometime in January 1997, does not adequately support a change of domicile.
The lease contract may be indicative of DOMINOs intention to reside in Sarangani but it does not engender the kind
of permanency required to prove abandonment of ones original domicile. The mere absence of individual from his
permanent residence, no matter how long, without the intention to abandon it does not result in loss or change of
domicile.xxx Thus the date of the contract of lease of a house and lot located in the province of Sarangani, i.e., 15
January 1997, cannot be used, in the absence of other circumstances, as the reckoning period of the one-year
residence requirement.
Further, Dominos lack of intention to abandon his residence in Quezon City is further strengthened by his act
of registering as voter in one of the precincts in Quezon City. While voting is not conclusive of residence, it does give
rise to a strong presumption of residence especially in this case where DOMINO registered in his former barangay.
Exercising the right of election franchise is a deliberate public assertion of the fact of residence, and is said to have
decided preponderance is a doubtful case upon the place the elector claims as, or believes to be, his residence.xxxi
The fact that a party continuously voted in a particular locality is a strong factor in assisting to determine the status of
his domicile.xxxii
His claim that his registration in Quezon City was erroneous and was caused by events over which he had no
control cannot be sustained. The general registration of voters for purposes of the May 1998 elections was scheduled
for two (2) consecutive weekends, viz.: June 14, 15, 21, and 22.xxxiii
While, Dominos intention to establish residence in Sarangani can be gleaned from the fact that be bought the
house he was renting on November 4, 1997, that he sought cancellation of his previous registration in Quezon City on
22 October 1997,xxxiv and that he applied for transfer of registration from Quezon City to Sarangani by reason of
change of residence on 30 August 1997,xxxv DOMINO still falls short of the one year residency requirement under the
Constitution.
In showing compliance with the residency requirement, both intent and actual presence in the district one
intends to represent must satisfy the length of time prescribed by the fundamental law.xxxvi Dominos failure to do so
rendered him ineligible and his election to office null and void.xxxvii
The Third Issue.
DOMINOs contention that the COMELEC has no jurisdiction in the present petition is bereft of merit.
As previously mentioned, the COMELEC, under Sec. 78, Art. IX of the Omnibus Election Code, has
jurisdiction over a petition to deny due course to or cancel certificate of candidacy. Such jurisdiction continues even
after election, if for any reason no final judgment of disqualification is rendered before the election, and the candidate
facing disqualification is voted for and receives the highest number of votesxxxviii and provided further that the winning
candidate has not been proclaimed or has taken his oath of office.xxxix
It has been repeatedly held in a number of cases, that the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunals sole
and exclusive jurisdiction over all contests relating to the election, returns and qualifications of members of Congress
as provided under Section 17 of Article VI of the Constitution begins only after a candidate has become a member of
the House of Representatives.xl
The fact of obtaining the highest number of votes in an election does not automatically vest the position in the
winning candidate.xli A candidate must be proclaimed and must have taken his oath of office before he can be
considered a member of the House of Representatives.
In the instant case, DOMINO was not proclaimed as Congressman-elect of the Lone Congressional District of
the Province of Sarangani by reason of a Supplemental Omnibus Resolution issued by the COMELEC on the day of
the election ordering the suspension of DOMINOs proclamation should he obtain the winning number of votes. This
resolution was issued by the COMELEC in view of the non-finality of its 6 May 1998 resolution disqualifying DOMINO
as candidate for the position.
Considering that DOMINO has not been proclaimed as Congressman-elect in the Lone Congressional District
of the Province of Sarangani he cannot be deemed a member of the House of Representative. Hence, it is the
COMELEC and not the Electoral Tribunal which has jurisdiction over the issue of his ineligibility as a candidate.xlii
Issue raised by INTERVENOR.
After finding that DOMINO is disqualified as candidate for the position of representative of the province of
Sarangani, may INTERVENOR, as the candidate who received the next highest number of votes, be proclaimed as
the winning candidate?
It is now settled doctrine that the candidate who obtains the second highest number of votes may not be
proclaimed winner in case the winning candidate is disqualified.xliii
In every election, the peoples choice is the paramount consideration and their expressed will must, at all
times, be given effect. When the majority speaks and elects into office a candidate by giving the highest number of
votes cast in the election for that office, no one can be declared elected in his place.xliv
It would be extremely repugnant to the basic concept of the constitutionally guaranteed right to suffrage if a
candidate who has not acquired the majority or plurality of votes is proclaimed a winner and imposed as the
representative of a constituency, the majority of which have positively declared through their ballots that they do not
choose him.xlv To simplistically assume that the second placer would have received the other votes would be to
substitute our judgment for the mind of the voters. He could not be considered the first among qualified candidates
because in a field which excludes the qualified candidate, the conditions would have substantially changed.xlvi
Sound policy dictates that public elective offices are filled by those who have received the highest number of
votes cast in the election for that office, and it is fundamental idea in all republican forms of government that no one
can be declared elected and no measure can be declared carried unless he or it receives a majority or plurality of the
legal votes cast in the election.xlvii
The effect of a decision declaring a person ineligible to hold an office is only that the election fails entirely, that
the wreath of victory cannot be transferredxlviii from the disqualified winner to the repudiated loser because the law
then as now only authorizes a declaration of election in favor of the person who haS obtained a plurality of votesxlix
and does not entitle the candidate receiving the next highest number of votes to be declared elected. In such case,
the electors have failed to make a choice and the election is a nullity. l To allow the defeated and repudiated candidate
to take over the elective position despite his rejection by the electorate is to disenfranchise the electorate without any
fault on their part and to undermine the importance and meaning of democracy and the peoples right to elect officials
of their choice.li
INTERVENORs plea that the votes cast in favor of DOMINO be considered stray votes cannot be sustained.
INTERVENORs reliance on the opinion made in the Labo, Jr. caselii to wit: if the electorate, fully aware in fact and in
law of a candidates disqualification so as to bring such awareness within the realm of notoriety, would nevertheless
cast their votes in favor of the ineligible candidate, the electorate may be said to have waived the validity and efficacy
of their votes by notoriously misapplying their franchise or throwing away their votes, in which case, the eligible
candidate obtaining the next higher number of votes may be deemed elected, is misplaced.

Contrary to the claim of INTERVENOR, petitioner was not notoriously known by the public as an ineligible
candidate. Although the resolution declaring him ineligible as candidate was rendered before the election, however,
the same is not yet final and executory. In fact, it was no less than the COMELEC in its Supplemental Omnibus
Resolution No. 3046 that allowed DOMINO to be voted for the office and ordered that the votes cast for him be
counted as the Resolution declaring him ineligible has not yet attained finality. Thus the votes cast for DOMINO are
presumed to have been cast in the sincere belief that he was a qualified candidate, without any intention to misapply
their franchise. Thus, said votes can not be treated as stray, void, or meaningless.liii

WHEREFORE, the instant petition is DISMISSED. The resolution dated 6 May 1998 of the COMELEC 2nd
Division and the decision dated 29 May 1998 of the COMELEC En Banc, are hereby AFFIRMED.

SO ORDERED.
 EN BANC
[G.R. No. 137329. August 9, 2000]
ROGELIO M. TORAYNO SR., GENEROSO ELIGAN and JACQUELINE M. SERIO, petitioners, vs. COMMISSION
ON ELECTIONS and VICENTE Y. EMANO, respondents.
DECISION
PANGANIBAN, J.:
The Constitution and the law requires residence as a qualification for seeking and holding elective public
office, in order to give candidates the opportunity to be familiar with the needs, difficulties, aspirations, potentials for
growth and all matters vital to the welfare of their constituencies; likewise, it enables the electorate to evaluate the
office seekers' qualifications and fitness for the job they aspire for. Inasmuch as Vicente Y. Emano has proven that
he, together with his family, (1) had actually resided in a house he bought in 1973 in Cagayan de Oro City; (2) had
actually held office there during his three terms as provincial governor of Misamis Oriental, the provincial capitol being
located therein; and (3) has registered as voter in the city during the period required by law, he could not be deemed
"a stranger or newcomer" when he ran for and was overwhelmingly voted as city mayor. Election laws must be
liberally construed to give effect to the popular mandate.
The Case
Before us is a Petition for Certiorari under Rule 65 of the Rules of Court seeking to set aside the January 18,
1999 Resolutionliv of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc in SPA No. 98-298, which upheld the July 14,
1998 Resolutionlv of the Comelec First Division. The assailed Resolutions ruled that Private Respondent Vicente Y.
Emano possessed the minimum period of residence to be eligible to vote in Cagayan de Oro City, as well as be voted
mayor thereof.
The Facts
The pertinent facts of the case, as culled from the records, are as follows.
During the 1995 elections, Vicente Y. Emano ran for, was elected, and proclaimed provincial governor of
Misamis Oriental. It was his third consecutive term as governor of the province. In his Certificate of Candidacy dated
March 12, 1995, his residence was declared to be in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental.
On June 14, 1997, while still the governor of Misamis Oriental, Emano executed a Voter Registration Record
in Cagayan de Oro City (geographically located in the Province of Misamis Oriental), a highly urbanized city, in which
he claimed 20 years of residence. On March 25, 1998, he filed his Certificate of Candidacy for mayor of the city,
stating therein that his residence for the preceding two years and five months was at 1409 San Jose Street,
Capistrano Subdivision, Gusa, Cagayan de Oro City.
Among those who ran for the mayorship of the city in 1998, along with Emano, was Erasmo B. Damasing,
counsel of herein petitioners. On May 15, 1998, Petitioners Rogelio M. Torayno Sr., Generoso Q. Eligan and
Jacqueline M. Serio, all residents of Cagayan de Oro City, filed a Petition before the Comelec, docketed as SPA No.
98-298, in which they sought the disqualification of Emano as mayoral candidate, on the ground that he had allegedly
failed to meet the one-year residence requirement. Prior to the resolution of their Petition, the Comelec proclaimed
private respondent as the duly elected city mayor. Thus, on May 29, 1998, petitioners filed another Petition before the
Comelec, this time for quo warranto,lvi in which they sought (1) the annulment of the election of private respondent;
and (2) the proclamation of Erasmo B. Damasing, who had garnered the next highest number of votes, as the duly
elected mayor of the city.
In its Resolution dated July 14, 1998, the Comelec First Division denied the Petition for Disqualification. Upon
petitioners' Motion for Reconsideration and Motion for Consolidation, the two cases were consolidated.lvii
Ruling of the Comelec
As earlier stated, the Comelec en banc upheld the findings and conclusions of the First Division, holding that
"[t]he records clearly show that the respondent is an actual resident of Cagayan de Oro City for such a period of time
necessary to qualify him to run for mayor therein. This fact is clearly established by the respondent having a house in
the city which has been existing therein since 1973 and where his family has been living since then."
Additionally, it ruled:
"There is nothing in the law which bars an elected provincial official from residing and/or registering as a voter
in a highly urbanized city whose residents are not given the right to vote for and be elected to a position in the
province embracing such highly urbanized city as long as he has complied with the requirements prescribed by law in
the case of a qualified voter.
"Neither can the list of voters submitted as evidence for the petitioners showing that the respondent was a
registered voter as of March 13, 1995 in Precinct No. 12, Barangay Poblacion, Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental bolster the
petitioner's argument that the respondent is not a resident [or a] registered voter in Cagayan de Oro City since
registration in said Precinct No. 12 does not preclude the respondent from registering anew in another place."
Hence, this recourselviii before this Court.
Issues
In their Memorandum,lix petitioners submit that the main issue is whether the "Comelec gravely abused its
discretion amounting to lack of jurisdiction in issuing the questioned Resolutions." Allegedly, the resolution of this
issue would depend on the following:lx
"1. Whether or not private respondent Emano's
(a) remaining as governor of Misamis Oriental until he filed his certificate of candidacy for
mayor of Cagayan de Oro City on March 25, 1998 in the May 11, 1998 election;
(b) asserting under oath [that he was] qualified to act as governor of said province until said
date; and
(c) admitting, in sworn statements, [that he was] a resident of Misamis Oriental,
precluded him from acquiring a bona fide domicile of choice for at least one (1) year in Cagayan de Oro City prior to
the May 11, 1998 elections, as to disqualify him for being a candidate for city mayor of said City.
2. Differently stated, whether or not Emano's securing a residence certificate in Cagayan de Oro City, holding
offices as governor of Misamis Oriental in the Capitol Building located in Cagayan de Oro City and having a house
therein where [he had] stay[ed] during his tenure as governor, and registering as a voter in said City in June 1997,
would be legally sufficient, as against the undisputed facts above enumerated, to constitute a change of his domicile
of birth in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental in favor of a new domicile of choice in Cagayan de Oro City for at least one (1)
year for purposes of qualifying him to run for city mayor in the May 11, 1998 elections.
3. Whether or not Erasmo Damasing, the candidate for mayor of Cagayan de Oro City in the May 11, 1998
elections, who received the second highest number of votes, can be declared winner, considering that respondent
Emano was disqualified to run for and hold said office and considering that his disqualification or ineligibility had been
extensively brought to the attention and consciousness of the voters prior to the May 11, 1998 election as to attain
notoriety, notwithstanding which they still voted for him."
Petitioners are seeking the resolution of essentially two questions: (1) whether private respondent had duly
established his residence in Cagayan de Oro City at least one year prior to the May 11, 1998 elections to qualify him
to run for the mayorship thereof; and (2) if not, whether Erasmo Damasing, the candidate who had received the
second highest number of votes, should be proclaimed mayor of the city.
The Courts Ruling
The Petition has no merit.
Preliminary Matter: Locus Standi of Petitioners
Although not raised by the parties, the legal standing of the petitioners was deliberated upon by the Court. We
note that petitioners pray, among others, for judgment "declaring Atty. Erasmo B. Damasing as entitled to be
proclaimed winner as mayor in the May 11, 1998 elections in Cagayan de Oro City." lxi And yet, Damasing is not a
party to the instant "Petition for Certiorari pursuant to Rule[s] 64 and 65" brought before us.
Under the Rules of Court, a quo warranto may be brought only by (1) the solicitor general or (2) a public
prosecutor or (3) a person claiming to be entitled to the public office or position usurped or unlawfully held or
exercised by another.lxii A reading of the Rules shows that petitioners, none of whom qualify under any of the above
three categories, are without legal standing to bring this suit.
However, the present Petition finds its root in two separate cases filed before the Comelec: (1) SPC 98-298 for
disqualification and (2) EPC 98-62 for quo warranto. Under our election laws and the Comelec Rules of Procedure,
any voter may file a petition to disqualify a candidate on grounds provided by law,lxiii or to contest the election of a city
officer on the ground of ineligibility or disloyalty to the Republic.lxiv The petitioners herein, being "duly-registered
voters" of Cagayan de Oro City, therefore satisfy the requirement of said laws and rules.lxv
Main Issue: Residence Qualification for Candidacy
Petitioners argue that private respondent maintains his domicile in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental, not in
Cagayan de Oro City, as allegedly shown by the following facts: (1) he had run and won as governor of the province
of Misamis Oriental for three consecutive terms immediately preceding the 1998 elections; (2) in the pleadings he
filed in connection with an election protest against him relating to the 1995 election, he had stated that he was a
resident of Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental; (3) he had fully exercised the powers and prerogatives of governor until he
filed his Certificate of Candidacy for mayor on March 25, 1998.
Petitioners claim that in discharging his duties as provincial governor, private respondent remained a resident
of the province. They aver that residence is a continuing qualification that an elective official must possess throughout
his term. Thus, private respondent could not have changed his residence to Cagayan de Oro City while he was still
governor of Misamis Oriental.
Petitioners further contend that the following were not sufficient to constitute a change of domicile: having a
house in Cagayan de Oro City, residing therein while exercising one's office as governor (the city being the seat of
government of the province), securing a residence certificate and registering as voter therein.
Private respondent, on the other hand, alleges that he actually and physically resided in Cagayan de Oro City
while serving as provincial governor for three consecutive terms, since the seat of the provincial government was
located at the heart of that city.lxvi He also avers that one's choice of domicile is a matter of intention, and it is the
person concerned who would be in the best position to make a choice. In this case, Emano decided to adopt
Cagayan de Oro City as his place of residence after the May 1995 elections. In fact, in January 1997, he secured his
Community Tax Certificate at the City Treasurer's Office, stating therein that he was a resident of 1409 San Jose
Street, Capistrano Subdivision, Gusa, Cagayan de Oro City. During the general registration of voters in June 1997, he
registered in one of the precincts of Gusa, Cagayan de Oro City. This meant that, at the time, Emano had been a
voter of the city for the minimum period required by law. No one has ever challenged this fact before any tribunal.
Private respondent contends further that his transfer of legal residence did not ipso facto divest him of his
position as provincial governor. First, there is no law that prevents an elected official from transferring residence while
in office. Second, an elective official's transfer of residence does not prevent the performance of that official's duties,
especially in private respondent's case in which the seat of government became his adopted place of residence.
Third, as ruled in Frivaldo v. Comelec,lxvii the loss of any of the required qualifications for election merely renders the
official's title or right to office open to challenge. In Emano's case, no one challenged his right to the Office of
Provincial Governor when he transferred his residence to Cagayan de Oro City. Naturally, he continued to discharge
his functions as such, until he filed his candidacy for mayor in March 1998.
Lastly, Emano urges that the sanctity of the people's will, as expressed in the election result, must be
respected. He is not, after all, a stranger to the city, much less to its voters. During his three terms as governor of
Misamis Oriental, his life and actuations have been closely interwoven with the pulse and beat of Cagayan de Oro
City.
Public Respondent Comelec relies essentially on Romualdez-Marcos v. Comeleclxviii in its
Memorandumlxixwhich supports the assailed Resolutions, and which has been filed in view of the solicitor general's
Manifestation and Motion in Lieu of Comment.lxx Thus, the poll body argues that "x x x the fact of residence x x x
ought to be decisive in determining whether or not an individual has satisfied the Constitution's residency qualification
requirement."
Law on Qualifications of Local Elective Officials
The pertinent provision sought to be enforced is Section 39 of the Local Government Code (LGC) of 1991,lxxi
which provides for the qualifications of local elective officials, as follows:
"SEC. 39. Qualifications. - (a) An elective local official must be a citizen of the Philippines; a registered voter in
the barangay, municipality, city, or province x x x where he intends to be elected; a resident therein for at least one (1)
year immediately preceding the day of the election; and able to read and write Filipino or any other local language or
dialect."
Generally, in requiring candidates to have a minimum period of residence in the area in which they seek to be
elected, the Constitution or the law intends to prevent the possibility of a "stranger or newcomer unacquainted with
the conditions and needs of a community and not identified with the latter from [seeking] an elective office to serve
that community."lxxii Such provision is aimed at excluding outsiders "from taking advantage of favorable circumstances
existing in that community for electoral gain."lxxiii Establishing residence in a community merely to meet an election law
requirement defeats the purpose of representation: to elect through the assent of voters those most cognizant and
sensitive to the needs of the community. This purpose is "best met by individuals who have either had actual
residence in the area for a given period or who have been domiciled in the same area either by origin or by
choice."lxxiv
Facts Showing Change of Residence
In the recent en banc case Mamba-Perez v. Comelec,lxxv this Court ruled that private respondent therein, now
Representative Rodolfo E. Aguinaldo of the Third District of Cagayan, had duly proven his change of residence from
Gattaran, Cagayan (part of the First District) to Tuguegarao, Cagayan (part of the Third District in which he sought
election as congressman). He proved it with the following facts: (1) in July 1990, he leased and lived in a residential
apartment in Magallanes Street, Tuguegarao, Cagayan; (2) in July 1995, he leased another residential apartment in
Kamias Street, Tanza, Tuguegarao, Cagayan; (3) the January 18, 1998 Certificate of Marriage between Aguinaldo
and his second wife, Lerma Dumaguit; (4) the Certificate of Live Birth of his second daughter; and (5) various letters
addressed to him and his family showed that he had been a resident of Tuguegarao for at least one year immediately
preceding the May 1998 elections. The Court also stated that it was not "of much importance that in his [Aguinaldo's]
certificates of candidacy for provincial governor in the elections of 1988, 1992, and 1995, private respondent stated
that he was a resident of Gattaran."lxxvi
In the case at bar, the Comelec found that private respondent and his family had actually been residing in
Capistrano Subdivision, Gusa, Cagayan de Oro City, in a house he had bought in 1973. Furthermore, during the three
terms (1988-1998) that he was governor of Misamis Oriental, he physically lived in that city, where the seat of the
provincial government was located. In June 1997, he also registered as voter of the same city. Based on our ruling in
Mamba-Perez, these facts indubitably prove that Vicente Y. Emano was a resident of Cagayan de Oro City for a
period of time sufficient to qualify him to run for public office therein. Moreover, the Comelec did not find any bad faith
on the part of Emano in his choice of residence.
Petitioners put much emphasis on the fact that Cagayan de Oro City is a highly urbanized city whose voters
cannot participate in the provincial elections. Such political subdivisions and voting restrictions, however, are simply
for the purpose of parity in representation. The classification of an area as a highly urbanized or independent
component city, for that matter, does not completely isolate its residents, politics, commerce and other businesses
from the entire province -- and vice versa -- especially when the city is located at the very heart of the province itself,
as in this case.
Undeniably, Cagayan de Oro City was once an integral part of Misamis Oriental and remains a geographical
part of the province. Not only is it at the center of the province; more important, it is itself the seat of the provincial
government. As a consequence, the provincial officials who carry out their functions in the city cannot avoid residing
therein; much less, getting acquainted with its concerns and interests. Vicente Y. Emano, having been the governor of
Misamis Oriental for three terms and consequently residing in Cagayan de Oro City within that period, could not be
said to be a stranger or newcomer to the city in the last year of his third term, when he decided to adopt it as his
permanent place of residence.
Significantly, the Court also declared in Mamba-Perez that "although private respondent declared in his
certificates of candidacy prior to the May 11, 1998 elections that he was a resident of Gattaran, Cagayan, the fact is
that he was actually a resident of the Third District not just for one (1) year prior to the May 11, 1998 elections but for
more than seven (7) years since July 1990. His claim that he ha[s] been a resident of Tuguegarao since July 1990 is
credible considering that he was governor from 1988 to 1998 and, therefore, it would be convenient for him to
maintain his residence in Tuguegarao, which is the capital of the province of Cagayan."
Similarly in the instant case, private respondent was actually and physically residing in Cagayan de Oro City
while discharging his duties as governor of Misamis Oriental. He owned a house in the city and resided there together
with his family. He even paid his 1998 community tax and registered as a voter therein. To all intents and purposes of
the Constitution and the law, he is a resident of Cagayan de Oro City and eligible to run for mayor thereof.
To petitioners' argument that Emano could not have continued to qualify as provincial governor if he was
indeed a resident of Cagayan de Oro City, we respond that the issue before this Court is whether Emano's residence
in the city qualifies him to run for and be elected as mayor, not whether he could have continued sitting as governor of
the province. There was no challenge to his eligibility to continue running the province; hence, this Court cannot make
any pronouncement on such issue. Considerations of due process prevent us from adjudging matters not properly
brought to us. On the basis, however, of the facts proven before the Comelec, we hold that he has satisfied the
residence qualification required by law for the mayorship of the city.
We stress that the residence requirement is rooted in the desire that officials of districts or localities be
acquainted not only with the metes and bounds of their constituencies but, more important, with the constituents
themselves -- their needs, difficulties, aspirations, potentials for growth and development, and all matters vital to their
common welfare. The requisite period would give candidates the opportunity to be familiar with their desired
constituencies, and likewise for the electorate to evaluate the former's qualifications and fitness for the offices they
seek.
In other words, the actual, physical and personal presence of herein private respondent in Cagayan de Oro
City is substantial enough to show his intention to fulfill the duties of mayor and for the voters to evaluate his
qualifications for the mayorship. Petitioners' very legalistic, academic and technical approach to the residence
requirement does not satisfy this simple, practical and common-sense rationale for the residence requirement.
Interpretation to Favor Popular Mandate
There is no question that private respondent was the overwhelming choice of the people of Cagayan de Oro
City. He won by a margin of about 30,000 votes.lxxvii Thus, we find it apt to reiterate the principle that the manifest will
of the people as expressed through the ballot must be given fullest effect. In case of doubt, political laws must be
interpreted to give life and spirit to the popular mandate.lxxviii Verily, in Frivaldo v. Comelec,lxxix the Court held:
"x x x [T]his Court has repeatedly stressed the importance of giving effect to the sovereign will in order to
ensure the survival of our democracy. In any action involving the possibility of a reversal of the popular electoral
choice, this Court must exert utmost effort to resolve the issues in a manner that would give effect to the will of the
majority, for it is merely sound public policy to cause elective offices to be filled by those who are the choice of the
majority. To successfully challenge a winning candidate's qualifications, the petitioner must clearly demonstrate that
the ineligibility is so patently antagonistic to constitutional and legal principles that overriding such ineligibility and
thereby giving effect to the apparent will of the people would ultimately create greater prejudice to the very democratic
institutions and juristic traditions that our Constitution and laws so zealously protect and promote."
In the same vein, we stated in Alberto v. Comeleclxxx that "election cases involve public interest; thus, laws
governing election contests must be liberally construed to the end that the will of the people in the choice of public
officials may not be defeated by mere technical objections."
Indeed, "it would be far better to err in favor of popular sovereignty than to be right in complex but little
understood legalisms."lxxxi
In sum, we hold that Respondent Comelec cannot be faulted with abuse, much less grave abuse, of discretion
in upholding private respondent's election.
Corollary Issue: Effect of Disqualification of Winner on Second Placer
With the resolution of the first issue in the positive, it is obvious that the second one posited by petitioners has
become academic and need not be ruled upon.
WHEREFORE, the Petition is DISMISSED and the assailed Comelec Resolutions AFFIRMED. Costs against
petitioners.
SO ORDERED.
 EN BANC to file a surety bond, by a bonding company of good reputation, acceptable to the Commission, in the sums of
P60,000.00 and P40,000.00, for President and Vice-President, respectively, and P32,000.00 for Senator and Member
of the House of Representatives;
G.R. No. L-24761 September 7, 1965

3. That, in consequence of said Republic Act No. 4421 and the aforementioned action of the Commission on
Elections, every candidate has to pay the premium charged by bonding companies, and, to offer thereto, either his
LEON G. MAQUERA, petitioner, own properties, worth, at least, the amount of the surety bond, or properties of the same worth, belonging to other
vs. persons willing to accommodate him, by way of counter-bond in favor of said bonding companies;

JUAN BORRA, CESAR MIRAFLOR, and GREGORIO SANTAYANA, in their respective capacities as
Chairman and Members of the Commission on Elections, and the COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS, respondents.
---------------------------
4. That the effect of said Republic Act No. 4421 is, therefore, to prevent or disqualify from running for
President, Vice-President, Senator or Member of the House of Representatives those persons who, although having
the qualifications prescribed by the Constitution therefore, cannot file the surety bond aforementioned, owing to failure
to pay the premium charged by the bonding company and/or lack of the property necessary for said counter-bond;

G.R. No. L-24828 September 7, 1965 5. That said Republic Act No. 4421 has, likewise, the effect of disqualifying for provincial, city or municipal
elective offices, persons who, although possessing the qualifications prescribed by law therefor, cannot pay said
premium and/or do not have the property essential for the aforementioned counter-bond;
FELIPE N. AUREA and MELECIO MALABANAN, petitioners,

vs. 6. That said Republic Act No. 4421 has, accordingly, the effect of imposing property qualifications in order that
a person could run for a public office and that the people could validly vote for him;
COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS, respondent.

7. That said property qualifications are inconsistent with the nature and essence of the Republican system
Leon G. Maquera in his own behalf as petitioner. ordained in our Constitution and the principle of social justice underlying the same, for said political system is
premised upon the tenet that sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from them,
Ramon Barrios for respondents.
and this, in turn, implies necessarily that the right to vote and to be voted for shall not be dependent upon the wealth
of the individual concerned, whereas social justice presupposes equal opportunity for all, rich and poor alike, and that,
accordingly, no person shall, by reason of poverty, be denied the chance to be elected to public office; and
RESOLUTION

8. That the bond required in Republic Act No. 4421 and the confiscation of said bond are not predicated upon
the necessity of defraying certain expenses or of compensating services given in connection with elections, and is,
therefore, arbitrary and oppressive.
PER CURIAM:

The Court RESOLVED, without prejudice to rendering an extended decision, to declare that said Republic Act
Upon consideration of case G.R. No. L-24761, "Leon G. Maquera vs. Juan Borra, et al.," and case G.R. No. L- No. 4421 is unconstitutional and hence null and void, and, hence, to enjoin respondents herein, as well as their
24828, "Felipe N. Aurea and Melecio Malabanan vs. Commission on Elections," and it appearing: representatives and agents, from enforcing and/or implementing said constitutional enactment.

1. That Republic Act No. 4421 requires "all candidates for national, provincial, city and municipal offices" to Bautista Angelo, Concepcion, Reyes, J.B.L., Dizon., Makalintal and Zaldivar, JJ., concur.
post a surety bond equivalent to the one-year salary or emoluments of the position to which he is a candidate, which
bond shall be forfeited in favor of the national, provincial, city or municipal government concerned if the candidate, Bengzon, C.J., took no part.
except when declared winner, fails to obtain at least 10% of the votes cast for the office to which he has filed his
certificate of candidacy, there being not more than four (4) candidates for the same office;" Barrera, J., is on leave.

2. That, in compliance with said Republic Act No. 4421, the Commission on Elections had, on July 20, 1965,
decided to require all candidates for President, Vice-President, Senator and Member of the House of Representatives