“Is this a case of misrepresentation?”
What does the 1987 Constitution say about the qualifications of those seeking to run for a seat in the House of Representatives?
The fundamental law is very clear. He or she must be: (1) natural- born citizen of the Philippines; (2) at least 25 years of age on the day of elections; (3) able to read and write; (4) a registered voter in the district in which he shall be elected; and (5) a resident of such district for a period of not less than one year immediately preceding the day of the election.
You would think that given such clear-cut qualifications, every candidate should try to meet all the requirements. If not, then they should forget about joining the elite ranks of lawmakers and enjoying the power, influence and perks—including pork barrel— that come with the position.
Apparently not everyone complies with all the strict requirements laid down in the Constitution.
Take the case of former Pasig City Mayor Maria Belen “Maribel” Andaya-Eusebio, who is running again for a congressional post in Camarines Sur although she is not a resident of any part of that province.
In 2019, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) rejected her request for a transfer of her voter registration from Pasig to Barangay Puro Batia in Libmanan, Camarines Sur for misrepresenting herself as one who had lived there immediately prior to that election.
In the forthcoming political exercise, Andaya-Eusebio once again faces a petition seeking the cancellation of her certificate of candidacy (COC) for representative, this time in the first district of Camarines Sur, and the deletion of her name from the official ballots to be used in the May 2022 election because she had made “false material representations” in her COC.
The petitioner, Tsuyoshi Anthony Horibata, is her relative and also a rival for the congressional post in the first district, which her brother, defeated 2019 gubernatorial bet Rolando Andaya Jr., used to represent in Congress.
Horibata disputes the claim of Andaya-Eusebio that she has been a resident of Ragay for 27 years. That’s because she became Pasig mayor from 2013 to 2016, having succeeded her husband, Bobby Eusebio, who had served as mayor there for three separate terms.
Horibata’s petition insists that Andaya-Eusebio misrepresented herself before the Office of the Election Registration Board (ERB) of the Comelec in Ragay. The ERB-Comelec had approved her transfer of registration record from Pasig to Ragay. Andaya-Eusebio filed her COC as representative of Camarines Sur’s 1st district on Nov. 15.
In her COC, Andaya-Eusebio claimed: (1) she is a resident of Andaya Drive, Poblacion Ilaod, Ragay, Camarines Sur; (2) her address for election purposes is Andaya Drive, Poblacion Ilaod, Ragay, Camarines Sur; (3) the period of her residence in the said address is 27 years and 2 months up to the day before the May 2022 elections; and (4) she is a registered voter of Precinct No. 0001A of Brgy. Poblacion Ilaod, Ragay.
The Horibata petition says Andaya-Eusebio made false representations before the Comelec. In 2019, the poll body denied her petition for the transfer of her voter registration record from Barangay Rosario in Pasig City to Barangay Puro Batia in Libmanan, Camarines Sur, so she could run for a seat in Congress representing the province’s second district.
The Comelec decision to reject the transfer of her voter registration to Camarines Sur was later upheld by the Court of Appeals.
Even as Eusebio-Andaya claims to be a resident of both Libmanan and Ragay, she is said to lack the residency requirement that would enable her to vote, much less run for a local seat, in Camarines Sur.
Horibata’s petition before the Comelec asked that Andaya-Eusebio’s COC should be cancelled and that her name should be delisted from the list of candidates because she had falsely declared that: (1) she is a resident of Andaya drive, Poblacion Ilaod in Ragay; (2) she has been a resident of that area for 27 years; and that (3) she is eligible to run for election in the congressional post she is seeking.
The petition also pointed out that Andaya-Eusebio made no mention of her husband, the former mayor of Pasig City, changing as well his domicile of choice from Pasig to Ragay, which means that they are still living together in Pasig.
With Andaya-Eusebio failing to present any evidence to the Comelec that she maintains a separate residence from her husband, then it should be assumed that she still lives together with him in Pasig, as pointed out by Horibata in his petition, citing pertinent provisions of the Family Code and Supreme Court (SC) rulings on couples living together in the same homes.
Horibata’s petition also belied the claim of Andaya-Eusebio about being a resident of Ragay for 27 years and 2 months, as she served as mayor of Pasig City from 2013 to 2016 and had admitted in her COC when she ran for mayor there in 2013 that she was a resident of Pasig City for 13 years and 11 months.
The Supreme Court has already ruled that a candidate for an elective post can only have one official residence or domicile of choice, pointing out that “residence” is synonymous with “domicile”. Thus, it follows that Andaya-Eusebio already lost her domicile of origin (Ragay) by declaring in her COC for Mayor of Pasig City that she was a resident of Pasig City for almost 14 years. Horibata’s petition wondered why the ERB-Comelec in Ragay allowed her to transfer as a registered voter of Ragay when she has been a resident of Pasig City for decades.
This case makes us wonder as well: If election rules are to be followed to the letter in keeping with the spirit of the Constitution, shouldn’t the Comelec see to it that candidates comply with them? Sana all.