Professional Documents
Culture Documents
GR No. 119976
September 18, 1995
Ponente: J Kapunan
FACTS:
1. Imelda established her domicile in Tacloban, Leyte in 1938. She studied and
graduated high school in the Holy Infant Academy from 1938 to 1949.
2. She then pursued her college degree, education, in St. Paul’s College now Divine
Word University also in Tacloban. Eventually, she taught in Leyte Chinese School
still in Tacloban.
3. In 1952, she went to Manila to work with her cousin, the late speaker Daniel
Romualdez in his office in the House of Representatives.
4. In 1954, she married late President Ferdinand Marcos who was still a Congressman
of Ilocos Norte then and was registered there as a voter.
5. In 1959, they lived together in San Juan, Rizal where she registered as a voter.
Marcos won as a Senator.
6. In 1965, Marocs was elected President. They lived in Malacanang Palace and
registered as a voter in San Miguel Manila.
7. She then served as member of the Batasang Pambansa and Governor of Metro
Manila during 1978.
8. In 1995, Imelda RomualdezMarcos ran for the position of Representative of the
First District of Leyte.
9. 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.
10. 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: WON Marcos has satisfied the 1year residency requirement to be eligible in
running as representative of the First District of Leyte.
HELD:
YES. The petitioner is a resident of Tolosa prior to the filing of candidacy.
Residence is used synonymously with domicile for election purposes. The court are in
favor of a conclusion supporting petitioner’s 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 Imelda’s 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 husband’s 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 brother’s 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.