Romualdez vs.

RTC 1993 Terms/Acronyms

RTC - Regional Trial Court MTC - Municipal Trial Court

Issues
1.0 Whether or not MTC and RTC has jurisdiction even if Advincula did not allege himself to be a registered voter of the municipality concerned Ruling: They have jurisdiction Ratio: In Aquino v CA: while lack of jurisdiction may be assailed at any stage, a partys active participation in the proceedings before a court without jurisdiction will estop such party from assailing such lack of jurisdiction. Petitioner is estopped from questioning jurisdiction of court not only by his active participation in proceedings but in having sought affirmative action himself in the appeal 2.0 Whether or not RTC erred in finding that Romualdez voluntarily left and abandoned his residence in Leyte Ruling: He did not voluntarily leave and abandon Leyte Ratio: In election cases, residence = domicile In Ong Huang Tin v Republic: Domicile denotes a fixed permanent residence which when absent for business or for pleasure, one intends to return To acquire a new domicile, there must be: o Actual residence or bodily presence in new locality o Intention to remain there for an indefinite period of time o Voluntary intention to abandon old domicile Romualdezs sudden departure from Leyte cannot be described as voluntary

Facts
Romualdez o natural born citizen of Philippines o son of former governor, nephew of Imelda Marcos o established residence in Leyte by constructing residential house o served as Brgy. Capt there.; Campaign manager in snap elections o After EDSA Revolution, left Philippines (because hes a relative of Marcos) for US. Took special studies on development of Leyte-Samar and international business finance o Sept 1991: received a letter that he should depart US on or before Aug 23 1992 o Dec 1991: left US without any travel document o Feb 1992: registered as a voter. Chairman of Board of Election Inspectors knew him as the previous Brgy. Capt so he was allowed to register. Donato Advincula - petitioned that Romualdez be excluded from voters list because hes a resident of Massachusetts, he just arrived and didnt have required 1-year residence in Phils and 6-month residence in municipality Romualdez answered: o Hes resident since early 1980s o He did not abandoned his residence by physical absence MTC: Romualdez is qualified Advincula appealed at RTC RTC: Romualdez is not a qualified voter. Name should be deleted and canceled from voters list Romualdez appealed to SC SC issued TRO to cease and desist from deleting name of Romualdez in voters list

Decision
Romualdez is a qualified voter. Petition is granted. MTC decision resinstated. RTC decision reversed and set aside. TRO to remove name in voters list is made permanent.