Lawren

  Coquilla vs COMELEC GR 88831 July 31, 2002 The term “residence” is to be understood not in its common acceptation as referring to “dwelling” or “habitation,” but rather to “domicile” or legal residence, that is, “the place where a party actually or constructively has his permanent home, where he, no matter where he may be found at any given time, eventually intends to return and remain (animus manendi).”   FACTS: Petitioner Coquilla was born on February 17, 1938 of Filipino parents in Oras, Eastern Samar. He grew up and resided there until 1965, when he joined the United States Navy. He was subsequently naturalized as a U.S. citizen. From 1970 to 1973, petitioner thrice visited the Philippines while on leave from the U.S. Navy. Otherwise, even after his retirement from the U.S. Navy in 1985, he remained in the United States.   On October 15, 1998, petitioner came to the Philippines and took out a residence certificate, although he continued making several tr...

  Romualdez-Marcos vs COMELEC GR 119976, 248 SCRA 300 [Sept 18, 1995]   QUALIFICATIONS of the Members of the House of Representatives Art. VI, Sec 6. For purposes of the Election law, “residence” is the same as “domicile”. Successfully changing residence requires an actual and deliberate abandonment of the old one.   Facts:   Petitioner Imelda Marcos, whose alleged legal residence is in Tacloban, Leyte, ran for Congress representing the 1st district of Leyte. Her adversary, Montejo, sought to disqualify her candidacy on the ground that, among others, she is not a resident of at least 1 year of Tacloban and therefore she did not satisfy the residency requirement mandated by Art VI, Sec 6 of the Constitution as she in fact wrote in her Certificate of Candidacy that she resided “in the constituency where” she sought “to be elected” for only “seven months”. She later claimed it to be an honest mistake brought about by confusion and asserted that it is in fa...

Jalover vs COMELEC G.R. No. 209286 September 23, 2014   Factual Antecedents On October 3, 2012, Osmeña filed his Certificate of Candidacy (COC) for the position of mayor, Toledo City, Cebu. 10  In his COC, Osmeña indicated that he had been a resident of Toledo City for fifteen (15) years prior to the May 2013 elections. Before running for the mayoralty position, Osmeña also served as the representative of the 3rd Congressional District of the Province of Cebu from 1995-1998, which incidentally includes the City of Toledo. 11 Soon thereafter, the petitioners filed before the COMELEC a "Petition to Deny Due Course and to Cancel Certificate of Candidacy and to Disqualify a Candidate for Possessing Some Grounds for Disqualification," 12  docketed as SPA No. 13-079. The Parties’ Claims and Evidence Citing Section 78 13  in relation with Section 74 14  of the Omnibus Election Code,the petitioners alleged beforethe COMELEC that Osmeña made material misrepre...

  Mariano Jr. vs COMELEC GR 118577, 242 SCRA 211 [Mar 7, 1995]   Facts: RA 7854 is “An Act Converting the Municipality of Makati in Into a Highly Urbanized City xxx”. Sec 52 thereof provides that Makati, upon conversion into a Highly Urbanized City, shall have at least two legislative districts xxx. The petitioners contend, among others, that the reapportionment cannot be made by a special law (it can only be made by a general reapportionment law), and that Makati’s population xxx stands at only 450k hence it allegedly violates Art VI, Sec 5(3) of the Constitution.   Issues: (1) May Sec 52 of RA 7854, a special law, make reapportionment of the legislative districts?   (2) Does Sec 53 of RA 7854 violate Art VI, Sec 5 (3) of the Constitution?   Held: (1) Yes. As thus worded [in Art VI, Sec 5(1)], the Constitution did not preclude Congress from increasing its membership by passing a law, other than a general reapportionment law. This is exac...

  Macias v. Comelec (G.R. No. 188078) September 14, 1961   FACTS: Petitioners are 4 members of the House of Representatives from Negros Oriental, Misamis Oriental and Bulacan & the provincial Governor of Negros Oriental. They are requesting that the respondent officials be prevented to implement RA 3040, an act that apportions representative districts in the country. They alleged that their respective provinces were discriminated because they were given less representation. Furthermore, they allege that RA 3040 is unconstitutional and void because: 1. It was passed without printed final copies which must be furnished to the members of the HOR at least 3 calendar days prior to passage 2. It was approved more than 3 years after the return of the last census of the population 3. It apportioned districts without regard to the number of inhabitants of the several provinces.   Respondents Comelec and Vicente Gella (National Treasurer) contend that they 1. we...

  Tobias vs. Abalos GR 114783 December 8, 1994   When one of the municipalities of a congressional district is converted into a city large enough to entitle it to one legislative district, the incidental effect is the splitting of district into two. The incidental arising of a new district in this manner need not be preceded by a census.   Art VI, Sec 5. Constitution did not preclude Congress from increasing its membership by ordinary legislation. – Art VI, Sec 5 (1). 250k is the minimum required population of a city to have more than one legislative district. – Art VI, Sec 5 (3).   FACTS: Mandaluyong and San Juan belonged to only one legislative district. RA 7675 was enacted which in effect converted the Municipality of Mandaluyong into a highly urbanized City and divided the legislative district of Mandaluyong and San Juan into 2 separate districts. Petitioners as taxpayers and residents of Mandaluyong assail the constitutionality of the RA contendi...

Aquino III V. Comelec Apr. 7, 2010 Issue: This is a Petition for Certiorari and Prohibition under Rule 65 of the Rules of Court. Petitioners Senator Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III and Mayor Jesse Robredo seek the nullification as unconstitutional of Republic Act No. 9716, entitled “An Act Reapportioning the Composition of the First (1st) and Second (2nd) Legislative Districts in the Province of Camarines Sur and Thereby Creating a New Legislative District From Such Reapportionment.” Republic Act No. 9716 originated from House Bill No. 4264, and was signed into law by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on 12 October 2009. It took effect on 31 October 2009 creating an additional legislative district for the Province of Camarines Sur by reconfiguring the existing first and second legislative districts of the province. The Province of Camarines Sur was estimated to have a population of 1,693,821,2 distributed among four (4) legislative districts. Following the enactment of Republic Ac...

  Veterans Federation Party v. COMELEC [ G.R. No. 136781. October 6, 2000]  Facts: COMELEC proclaimed 14 party-list representatives from 13 parties which obtained at least 2% of the total number of votes cast for the party-list system as members of the House of Representatives. Upon petition for respondents, who were party-list organizations, it proclaimed 38 additional party-list representatives although they obtained less than 2% of the total number of votes cast for the party-list system on the ground that under the Constitution, it is mandatory that at least 20% of the members of the House of Representatives come from the party-list representatives.  Issue: Is the twenty percent allocation for party-list representatives mentioned in Section 5 (2), Article VI of the Constitution, mandatory or is it merely a ceiling? In other words, should the twenty percent allocation for party-list solons be filled up completely and all the time? Held: It is not mandato...

  ANG BAGONG BAYANI VS COMELEC FACTS: Akbayan and Ang Bagong Bayani filed their MOTIONS before Comelec to have some party-list groups DELETED FROM THE OFFICIAL LIST OF PARTIES. (for the 2001 elections) They contend that there are SOME POLITICAL PARTIES (PMP, LAKAS-NUCD, NPC, LDP, AKSYON DEMOCRATICO, PDP-LABAN, NATIONALISTA) included in the party-list system. They argue that the party-list system is for the marginalized and underrepresented. ISSUE: Whether COMELEC was correct in including some of these political parties in the Party-List Election. RULING: SC: THEY ARE QUALIFIED. These political parties cannot be disqualified from the party-list election merely on the ground that they are political parties. The Constitution provides that the members of the House may be elected through a party list system of REGISTERED NATIONAL, REGIONAL AND SECTORAL PARTIES OR ORGANIZATIONS. Under the Party List Law RA 7941, a PARTY is defined as either a political party or a sectoral p...

  Bagabuyo v Comelec, 573 SCRA 290 (2008)   FACTS:   On October 10, 2006, Cagayan de Oro’s then Congressman Constantino G. Jaraula filed and sponsored House Bill No. 5859:   An Act Providing for the Apportionment of the Lone Legislative District of the City of Cagayan De Oro or RA No. 9371. It increased Cagayan de Oro’s legislative district from one to two. For the election of May 2007, CDO’s voters would be classified as belonging to either the first or the second district, depending on their place of residence. On March 13, 2007, COMELEC promulgated a resolution implementing the said act. Bagabuyo filed a petition at the Supreme Court asking for the nullification of RA 9371 and Resolution No. 7837 on constitutional grounds. Petitioner argued that COMELEC cannot implement a law without the commencement of a plebiscite which is indispensable for the division and conversion of a local govt. unit.  ISSUE:   Whether or not the law, of which pert...