G.R. No. 137329; August 9, 2000
ROGELIO M. TORAYNO SR., GENEROSO ELIGAN and JACQUELINE M. SERIÑO, petitioners, vs. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS and VICENTE Y. EMANO, respondents.

FACTS

Private respondent Vicente Y. Emano was the three-term provincial governor of Misamis Oriental. In his 1995 Certificate of Candidacy for governor, he declared his residence to be in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental. On June 14, 1997, while still governor, he executed a Voter Registration Record in Cagayan de Oro City (a highly urbanized city within Misamis Oriental), claiming 20 years of residence. On March 25, 1998, he filed his Certificate of Candidacy for mayor of Cagayan de Oro City, stating his residence for the preceding two years and five months was in the city. Petitioners, residents of the city, filed a Petition for Disqualification against Emano before the COMELEC, alleging he failed to meet the one-year residency requirement for the mayoral position. The COMELEC First Division denied the petition, and the COMELEC en banc affirmed, holding Emano was an actual resident of the city.

ISSUE

Whether the COMELEC committed grave abuse of discretion in ruling that Vicente Y. Emano possessed the required one-year residency in Cagayan de Oro City to qualify as a candidate for city mayor.

RULING

The Supreme Court dismissed the petition and affirmed the COMELEC Resolutions. The legal logic centered on the concept of domicile and the liberal interpretation of election laws to uphold the will of the electorate. Residence for election purposes means domicile, which requires not only physical presence (animus manendi) but also the intention to remain there permanently (animus non revertendi). The Court found Emano sufficiently proved a change of domicile from Tagoloan to Cagayan de Oro City. He owned a house in the city since 1973 where his family resided, he held his gubernatorial office at the provincial capitol located within the city, and he registered as a voter there in June 1997, more than a year before the May 1998 elections. His prior declarations of residence in Tagoloan for his gubernatorial candidacy did not absolutely preclude a concurrent or subsequent change of domicile. The Constitution requires residence to ensure familiarity with the constituency, a condition Emano fulfilled given his long-term physical presence and official duties in the city. The Court emphasized that election laws should be liberally construed to give effect to the popular mandate, as Emano won the mayoral election by a significant margin. The COMELEC’s factual finding of residency, supported by evidence, was not tainted with grave abuse of discretion.