Aquino v. COMELEC

AGAPITO AQUINO v. COMMISSION ON ELECTION (D)
G.R. No. 120265 September 18, 1995

FACTS:

• Petitioner Agapito A. Aquino filed his Certificate of Candidacy(CoC) for the position of Representative for the new 2nd Legislative District of Makati City providing the following information; Residence in Constituency: ___ years & 10 months.
• Move Makati, a duly registered political party, and Mateo Bedon, Chairman of the LAKAS-NUCD-UMDP of Barangay Cembo, Makati City, filed a petition to disqualify Agapito A. Aquino on the ground that the latter lacked the residence qualification as a candidate for congressman which should be for a period not less than one (1) year immediately preceding the elections
• Petitioner filed another CoC amending the certificate. Petitioner stated in Item 8 of his certificate that he had resided in the constituency for l year and 13 days. 
• Petitioner filed his Answer praying for the dismissal of the disqualification case. On the same day, a hearing was conducted by the COMELEC wherein petitioner presented in evidence, his Affidavit, lease contract between petitioner and Leonor Feliciano.
• 2nd Division of COMELEC promulgated a Resolution which DISMISS the: petition for Disqualification against respondent Agapito Aquino and declares him ELIGIBLE to run for the Office of Representative in the 2nd District of Makati City.
• Elections were held. In Makati City where 3 candidates vied for the congressional seat in the 2nd District, petitioner 38,547 votes as against another candidate, Agusto Syjuco, who obtained 35,910 votes.
• Private respondents Move Makati and Bedon filed an Urgent Motion to Suspend Proclamation of petitioner. Thereafter, they filed an Omnibus Motion for Reconsideration of the COMELEC's 2nd Division resolution dated May 6, 1995 and a 2nd Urgent Motion to Suspend Proclamation of petitioner.
• COMELEC issued an Order suspending petitioner's proclamation.
• Petitioner filed a "Motion to File Supplemental Memorandum and Motion to Resolve Urgent Motion to Resolve Motion to Lift Suspension of Proclamation" wherein he manifested his intention to raise, among others, the issue of whether or not the determination of the qualifications of petitioner after the elections is lodged exclusively in the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal pursuant to Sec 17, Art VI of the 1987 Constitution.
• COMELEC issued a Resolution reversing the resolution of the 2nd Division dated May 6, 1995. Petitioners' Motion for Reconsideration of the Resolution of the 2nd Division, promulgated on May 6, 1995, is GRANTED. Respondent Agapito A. Aquino is declared ineligible and thus disqualified as a candidate for the Office of Representative of the 2nd District of Makati City in the elections, for lack of the constitutional qualification of residence.

ISSUE:

• Whether or not COMELEC's finding of non-compliance with the residency requirement of 1 year against the petitioner is valid.

HELD:

• Yes, COMELEC's finding of non-compliance with the residency requirement of 1 year against the petitioner is valid.
• Petitioner in his Certificate of Candidacy, indicated not only that he was a resident of San Jose, Concepcion, Tarlac in 1992 but that he was a resident of the same for 52 years immediately preceding that election. His certificate indicated that he was also a registered voter of the same district. His birth certificate places Concepcion, Tarlac as the birthplace of both of his parents Benigno and Aurora. Thus, what stands consistently clear and unassailable is that this domicile of origin was Concepcion, Tarlac.
• The intention not to establish a permanent home in Makati City is evident in his leasing a condominium unit instead of buying one. While a lease contract maybe indicative of respondent's intention to reside in Makati City it does not engender the kind of permanency required to prove abandonment of one's original domicile especially since, by its terms, it is only for a period of two (2) years, and respondent Aquino himself testified that his intention was really for only one (l) year because he has other "residences" in Manila or Quezon City.
• While property ownership is not and should never be an indicia of the right to vote or to be voted upon, the fact that petitioner himself claims that he has other residences in Metro Manila coupled with the short length of time he claims to be a resident of the condominium unit in Makati indicate that the sole purpose of transferring his physical residence is not to acquire's new residence or domicile but only to qualify as a candidate for Representative of the 2nd District of Makati City.
• Finally, petitioner's submission that it would be legally impossible to impose the one year residency requirement in a newly created political district is specious and lacks basis in logic. A new political district is not created out of thin air. It is carved out from part of a real and existing geographic area, in this case the old Municipality of Makati.