MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday, May 6, dismissed the petition to cancel the certificate of candidacy (COC) of Taguig City congressional candidate Alan Peter Cayetano over residency issues.

In a resolution, the Comelec 2nd Division ruled, “Here, it is clear that Respondent did not commit any false material representation when he declared in his COC that his residence or domicile is still 209 Paso Street, Barangay Bagumbayan, Taguig City, despite the transfer of their family home to 353-A Two Serendra, Fort Bonifacio, Taguig.”

“His domicile remains to be that in Barangay Bagumbayan, which has been his domicile from 1991 up to the present,” said the Comelec.

The petitioner, Leonides Buac Jr, wanted the Comelec to cancel the COCs of both Cayetano and his wife Lani because they declared different addresses in these documents, casting doubt on their truthfulness.

Alan Peter Cayetano had said he resides in Barangay Bagumbayan in Taguig, while Lani Cayetano had said she is a resident of Barangay Fort Bonifacio – even as the spouses said they live in Unit 352-A Two Serendra in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig.

The Comelec said Cayetano “cannot be considered to have lost that domicile,” referring to Bagumbayan, “by the mere establishment or transfer of their conjugal dwelling and family home to Fort Bonifacio absent any intention on his part to abandon the same.”

“In view of the foregoing, Respondent not having abandoned his domicile in Barangay Bagumbayan, correctly declared that his residence is such address and no material representation that is false can be imputed for such an act nor for his act of declaring himself eligible for the office sought to be elected to as his domicile remains to be Barangay Bagumbayan in the 1st District of Taguig-Pateros,” the Comelec ruled.

The petitioner’s lawyer Emilio Marañon III said the case against Lani Cayetano remains pending with the poll body.

Marañon said their camp will file a motion for reconsideration with the Comelec.

In a Facebook post on Monday, Marañon said: “Barely a week before the elections, Comelec released its decision dismissing our cancellation case against Alan Cayetano despite our very strong evidence. Although consolidated, the case versus Lani Cayetano remains undecided and still gives us a faint glimmer of hope.”

“We will be filing our motion for reconsideration as soon as we officially receive the copy of the decision. We will fight until the end,” Marañon said. – Rappler.com