October 2009 - Philippine Supreme Court Decisions/Resolutions
Philippine Supreme Court Jurisprudence
G.R. No. 186006 - Norlainie Mitmug Limbona v. Commssion on Elections and Malik "Bobby" T. Alingan
EN BANC
[G.R. NO. 186006 : October 16, 2009]
NORLAINIE MITMUG LIMBONA, Petitioner, v. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS and MALIK "BOBBY" T. ALINGAN, Respondents.
R E S O L U T I O N
NACHURA, J.:
Before this Court is a Petition for Certiorari under Rule 65, in relation to Rule 64, assailing the Resolution1 dated November 23, 2007 of the Second Division of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the Resolution2 of the Comelec En Banc dated January 14, 2009 in SPA No. 07-621.
The factual and procedural antecedents are as follows:
Prior to the May 14, 2007 elections, petitioner Norlainie Mitmug Limbona and her husband, Mohammad "Exchan" Limbona, each filed a Certificate of Candidacy for Mayor of Pantar, Lanao del Norte. On April 2, 2007, private respondent Malik "Bobby" Alingan filed a disqualification case against Mohammad before the Provincial Election Supervisor of Lanao del Norte. On April 12, 2007, Alingan also filed a petition for disqualification against petitioner.3 Both disqualification cases were premised on the ground that petitioner and her husband lacked the one-year residency requirement and both were not registered voters of Pantar.4
On April 17, 2007, petitioner executed an Affidavit of Withdrawal of her certificate of candidacy,5 which was subsequently approved by the Comelec.6 Petitioner also filed a Motion to Dismiss the disqualification case against her for being moot and academic.7
On election day, May 14, 2007, the Comelec resolved to postpone the elections in Pantar because there was no final list of voters yet. A special election was scheduled for July 23, 2007.8
On May 24, 2007, the Comelec First Division promulgated a Resolution disqualifying Mohammad as candidate for mayor for failure to comply with the one-year residency requirement.9 Petitioner then filed her Certificate of Candidacy as substitute candidate on July 21, 2007. On July 23, 2007, Alingan filed a petition for disqualification against petitioner for, among others, lacking the one-year residency requirement (SPA No. 07-621).10
In a Resolution in SPA No. 07-62111 dated November 23, 2007, the Comelec Second Division ruled that petitioner was disqualified from running for Mayor of Pantar. The Comelec held that petitioner only became a resident of Pantar in November 2006. It explained that petitioner's domicile of origin was Maguing, Lanao del Norte, her birthplace. When she got married, she became a resident of Barangay Rapasun, Marawi City, where her husband was Barangay Chairman until November 2006. Barangay Rapasun, the Comelec said, was petitioner's domicile by operation of law under the Family Code. The Comelec found that the evidence petitioner adduced to prove that she has abandoned her domicile of origin or her domicile in Marawi City two years prior to the elections consisted mainly of self-serving affidavits and were not corroborated by independent and competent evidence. The Comelec also took note of its resolution in another case where it was found that petitioner was not even a registered voter in Pantar. Petitioner filed a Motion for Reconsideration.12
The Comelec resolved the motion in an En Banc Resolution dated January 14, 2009,13 affirming the Second Division's Resolution disqualifying petitioner. The Comelec said that the issue of whether petitioner has complied with the one-year residency rule has been decided by the Supreme Court in Norlainie Mitmug Limbona v. Commission on Elections and Malik "Bobby" T. Alingan promulgated on June 25, 2008. The Comelec noted that, in said case, the Supreme Court upheld the Comelec First Division's Decision in SPA No. 07-611 disqualifying petitioner from running for mayor of Pantar for failure to comply with the residency requirement.
Petitioner is now before this Court assailing the Comelec's November 23, 2007 and January 14, 2009 Resolutions. She posits that the Comelec erred in disqualifying her for failure to comply with the one-year residency requirement. She alleges that in a disqualification case against her husband filed by Nasser Macauyag, another mayoralty candidate, the Comelec considered her husband as a resident of Pantar and qualified to run for any elective office there. Petitioner avers that since her husband was qualified to run in Pantar, she is likewise qualified to run.14 ???�r?bl?�