G.R. No. 260219 & 260231, April 22, 2025
DATU PAX ALI S. MANGUDADATU, PETITIONER, VS. THE COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS, SHARIFA AKEEL MANGUDADATU, AZEL V. MANGUDADATU, AND BAI ALI A. UNTONG, RESPONDENTS.

FACTS

The ponencia (main decision) dismissed a Petition for Certiorari and affirmed the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) Resolutions which cancelled the Certificate of Candidacy (CoC) for Governor of Sultan Kudarat of petitioner Datu Pax Ali S. Mangudadatu (Pax Ali). The cancellation was due to false material representations regarding his residency in Sultan Kudarat, rendering him ineligible for the office. The ponencia also declared that the Vice Governor shall serve the remaining term of Pax Ali as Governor.

ISSUE

The primary legal issue addressed in the Separate Concurring Opinion is whether an incumbent local official (like Pax Ali, who was the Mayor of Datu Ali Sangki, Maguindanao) can legally acquire a new domicile of choice in another locality (Sultan Kudarat) for the purpose of meeting residency requirements for a different elective office, while still holding the former office.

RULING

Justice Caguioa, in his Separate Concurring Opinion, concurred with the ponencia’s dispositive rulings to: 1) dismiss the Petition and affirm the COMELEC’s cancellation of Pax Ali’s CoC, and 2) declare that the Vice Governor should succeed to the governorship. However, he disagreed with the ponencia’s rationale that an incumbent official cannot establish a new domicile due to a lack of intent to abandon the old one while in office.
Justice Caguioa submitted that, as a matter of fact, an incumbent official may acquire another domicile outside the locality where he serves. The act of changing domicile while in office, however, means the official risks forfeiting his current seat for losing a continuing qualification (residency) to hold that position. His title to the office remains until successfully challenged in a proper proceeding.
Nonetheless, under the circumstances of the case, Pax Ali did not acquire domicile in Lutayan, Sultan Kudarat and thus failed to satisfy the one-year residency requirement under the Local Government Code. Justice Caguioa held that Pax Ali is estopped from denying his domicile in Datu Ali Sangki, Maguindanao, while he was its incumbent Mayor, for the purpose of qualifying for Governor of Sultan Kudarat. He cannot benefit from claiming he abandoned his mayoral constituency to qualify for another office. Therefore, his domicile in Sultan Kudarat was correctly counted only from November 15, 2021, after he resigned as Mayor.
Finally, Justice Caguioa agreed with the ponencia’s abandonment of the “second placer rule” and the application of the rules on succession under the Local Government Code (Chapter 1, Section 44), confirming that the incumbent Vice Governor, Raden Sakaluran, should succeed as Governor.