G.R. Nos. 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

Petitioner Datu Pax Ali S. Mangudadatu filed his Certificate of Candidacy for Governor of Sultan Kudarat for the May 2022 elections, stating he had been a resident there for one year and eight months. At that time, he was the incumbent Mayor of Datu Abdullah Sangki, Maguindanao. Two petitions were filed with the COMELEC to cancel his COC, alleging he misrepresented his residency since he was still the mayor of a Maguindanao municipality, which required him to be a resident there.
Pax Ali resigned as mayor on November 15, 2021. He defended his candidacy by asserting his domicile of origin was in Sultan Kudarat, claiming he only temporarily transferred to Maguindanao to meet the mayoral residency requirement and always intended to return. He argued he had increased his physical presence in Sultan Kudarat since July 2020. The COMELEC First Division and later the COMELEC En Banc cancelled his COC, ruling he failed to meet the one-year residency requirement. Despite this, he was later proclaimed the elected Governor.

ISSUE

Did the COMELEC commit grave abuse of discretion in cancelling Pax Ali’s Certificate of Candidacy for material misrepresentation regarding his residency?

RULING

No, the COMELEC did not commit grave abuse of discretion. The ponencia, affirmed by the Court En Banc, dismissed the petition. The legal logic centers on the concurrence of physical presence (corpus) and intention to reside (animus manendi) to establish a new domicile for election purposes. The Court held that Pax Ali’s act of remaining as the Mayor of Datu Abdullah Sangki was a positive, voluntary act reflecting his choice of residence, which was antithetical to an intention to abandon it (animus non revertendi). His resignation in November 2021, coming only after the cancellation petitions were filed, was deemed a mere afterthought. Consequently, he could only be considered a resident of Sultan Kudarat from the date of his resignation, a period of only about five months before the election, which failed to satisfy the one-year constitutional requirement.
Furthermore, the Court found material misrepresentation. As an incumbent mayor bound by the Local Government Code to be a resident of his municipality, Pax Ali knew he was not a resident of Sultan Kudarat when he filed his COC. His subsequent resignation did not cure this falsity. The ruling also used this case to formally abandon the “second-placer” doctrine. The Court held that no law authorizes the proclamation of the second-highest vote-getter if the winner is disqualified. Instead, a permanent vacancy is created, to be filled by succession under Section 44 of the Local Government Code, meaning the Vice-Governor would assume the office.