Romualdez-Marcos vs.

COMELEC
CITATION: 248 SCRA 300

FACTS:

Imelda, a little over 8 years old, in or about 1938, established her domicile in
Tacloban, Leyte where she studied and graduated high school in the Holy Infant
Academy from 1938 to 1949. She then pursued her college degree, education, in
St. Pauls College now Divine Word University also in Tacloban. Subsequently, she
taught in Leyte Chinese School still in Tacloban. She went to manila during 1952 to
work with her cousin, the late speaker Daniel Romualdez in his office in the House of
Representatives. In 1954, she married late President Ferdinand Marcos when he
was still a Congressman of Ilocos Norte and was registered there as a voter. When
Pres. Marcos was elected as Senator in 1959, they lived together in San Juan, Rizal
where she registered as a voter. In 1965, when Marcos won presidency, they lived
in Malacanang Palace and registered as a voter in San Miguel Manila. She served as
member of the Batasang Pambansa and Governor of Metro Manila during 1978.

Imelda Romualdez-Marcos was running for the position of Representative of the First
District of Leyte for the 1995 Elections. Cirilo Roy Montejo, the incumbent
Representative of the First District of Leyte and also a candidate for the same
position, filed a Petition for Cancellation and Disqualification" with the Commission
on Elections alleging that petitioner did not meet the constitutional requirement for
residency. The petitioner, in an honest misrepresentation, wrote seven months
under residency, which she sought to rectify by adding the words "since childhood"
in her Amended/Corrected Certificate of Candidacy filed on March 29, 1995 and that
"she has always maintained Tacloban City as her domicile or residence. She arrived
at the seven months residency due to the fact that she became a resident of the
Municipality of Tolosa in said months.

ISSUE: Whether petitioner has satisfied the 1year residency requirement to be

eligible in running as representative of the First District of Leyte.

HELD:

Residence is used synonymously with domicile for election purposes. The court are
in favor of a conclusion supporting petitoners claim of legal residence or domicile in
the First District of Leyte despite her own declaration of 7 months residency in the
district for the following reasons:
1. A minor follows domicile of her parents. Tacloban became Imeldas domicile of
origin by operation of law when her father brought them to Leyte;

2. Domicile of origin is only lost when there is actual removal or change of domicile,
a bona fide intention of abandoning the former residence and establishing a new
one, and acts which correspond with the purpose. In the absence and concurrence
of all these, domicile of origin should be deemed to continue.

3. A wife does not automatically gain the husbands domicile because the term
residence in Civil Law does not mean the same thing in Political Law. When
Imelda married late President Marcos in 1954, she kept her domicile of origin and
merely gained a new home and not domicilium necessarium.

4. Assuming that Imelda gained a new domicile after her marriage and acquired
right to choose a new one only after the death of Pres. Marcos, her actions upon
returning to the country clearly indicated that she chose Tacloban, her domicile of
origin, as her domicile of choice. To add, petitioner even obtained her residence
certificate in 1992 in Tacloban, Leyte while living in her brothers house, an act,
which supports the domiciliary intention clearly manifested. She even kept close
ties by establishing residences in Tacloban, celebrating her birthdays and other
important milestones.

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.

IMELDA ROMUALDEZ-MARCOS, plaintiff vs. COMMISSION OF ELECTIONS, defendant

248 SCRA 300

Facts:

March 23,1995, Cirilo Roy Montejo, filed a petition for cancellation and
disqualification with the COMELEC alleging that Imelda-Romualdez Marcos did not
meet the constitutional requirement for residency. March 29, 1995, Marcos filed a
corrected certificate of candidacy changing the entry seven months to since
childhood. The COMELEC en banc denied petitioners motion for reconsideration
declaring her not qualified to run for the position of the member of the House of
Representatives for the First District of Leyte. In a supplemental petition, Marcos
averred that she was the overwhelming winner of the election.

Issue:

Whether or not petitioner was a resident, for election purposes, of the First District
of Leyte for a period of one year at the time of the May 9, 1995 elections.

Held:

Residence is synonymous with domicile which reveals a tendency or mistake the

concept of domicile for actual residence, a conception not intended for the purpose
of determining a candidates qualifications for the election to the House of
Representatives as required by the 1987 Constitution. An individual does not lose
his domicile even if he has lived and maintained residences in different places. In
the case at bench, the evidence adduced by Motejo lacks the degree of
persuasiveness as required to convince the court that an abandonment of domicile
of origin in favor of a domicile of choice indeed incurred. It cannot be correctly
argued that Marcos lost her domicile of origin by operation of law as a result of her
marriage to the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos. Having determined that Marcos
posses the necessary residence qualifications to run for a seat in the House of
Representatives in the First District of Leyte, the COMELECs questioned resolutions
dated April 24, May 7, May11, and May 25 are set aside. Provincial Board of
Canvassers is directed to proclaim Marcos as the duly elected Representative of the
First District of Leyte.1