CAISIP

RESIDENCY REQUIREMENT
Pundaodaya v COMELEC
GR No. 179313

Facts:
-! On March 2007, Arsenio Noble filed his Certificate of Candidacy, indicating that he has been a
resident of Purok 3, Barangay Esperanza, Kinoguitan, Misamis Oriental for 15 years.
-! Judith Pundaodaya ran against Arsenio Noble for the position of Municipal Mayor of Kinoguitan,
Misamis in the 2007 elections.
-! April 2007, Pundaodaya filed a petition for disqualification agains Noble, alleging that the latter
has not complied with residency requirements prescribed by law for elective local officials.
Pundaodaya claims that Noble is actually a resident of Cagayan de Oro and that he has never
resided in Kinoguitan, Misamis Oriental.
-! Noble argues that he is a registered voter and resident of Kinoguitan, Misamis Oriental; that he
married Bernadith Go, daughter of then mayor of Kinoguitan, Misamis Oriental; that he has
engaged in several electoral activities since his marraige; that he voted in said municipality in
1998, 2001, 2004
-! Second Division of the COMELEC ruled in favor of Pundaodaya and disqualified Noble from
running as mayor: 1.) being a registered voter and voting in elections does not establish that he
actually elected residency in the area 2.) failed to prove bodily presence in the new locality 3.)
failed to show that he intends to remain and abandon his residency in Cagayan de Oro City
-! Noble filed a motion for reconsideration. He also garnered the most number of votes and was
proclaimed the winning candidate
-! COMELEC en banc reversed the decision of the 2nd division: the fact that he resides in
Kinoguitan and is a registered voter and owns property thereat, sufficiently meet the residency
requirement
-! Pundaodaya filed petition for certiorari alleging that COMELEC en banc gravely abused its
discretion: 1.) in declaring Noble qualified to run 2.) failing to order annulment of Noble’s
proclamation and refusing to proclaim Pundaodaya as winning candidate.

Issue: WON COMELEC gravely abused its discretion

Held:
-! To establish a new domicile of choice, personal presence in the place must be coupled with
conduct indicative of that intention. It requires not only such bodily presence in that place but
also a declared and probable intent to make it one’s fixed and permanent place of abode.
Otherwise, his domicile of origin (Cagayan de Oro) continues.
-! Records show that Noble’s domicile of origin was Cagayan de Oro. He claims to have chose
Misamis Oriental as his new domicile by presenting:
! his voter registration records
! marriage certificate
! affidavits of residents that he established residence in the municipality
! receipts for his payment of water bills
CAISIP
! certification that he has been a consumer of the Municipal Water System
! Deed of Sale of his proper
-! Court ruled that:
! his marriage to Bernadith Go does not establish his actual physical presence in Kinoguitan
! neither does it prove an intention to make it his permanent place of residence
! payment of water bills did not include evidence showing to which specific properties they
pertain
! re deed of sale, Noble admitted that he does not own property in Kinoguitan
-! Thus, Court finds that Noble has not abandoned his original domicile
-! Also, Noble’s alleged change of domicile was effected solely for the purpose of qualifying
as a candidate in the 2007 elections.
-! Court held that the one-year residency requirement is aimed at excluding outsiders "from taking
advantage of favorable circumstances existing in that community for electoral gain.”
-! Establishing residence in a community merely to meet an election law requirement defeats the
purpose of representation.
-! NOBLE IS DISQUALIFIED FROM RUNNING AS MUNICIPAL MAYOR
-! Also, Pundaodaya cannot be proclaimed mayor due to the rules of succession found in the LGC:
“If a permanent vacancy occurs in the office of the mayor, vice mayor shall become the
mayor”