The legal counsel of former Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano and Taguig City Mayor Laarni Cayetano on Thursday argued that a person can have several residences at the same time based on election law doctrines and the Supreme Court itself.
The Cayetanos, who are running to represent the first and second districts of Taguig in the May 2019 midterm polls, were the subjects of a disqualification case before the Commission on Elections.
The petitioner, Leonides Buac Jr., also described the Cayetano family as a “super dynasty” in Taguig.
“In claiming two different and separate domiciles, the Cayetano spouses absurdly represent that they habitually reside in two different localities,” the petitioner said.
“That despite their marriage, their animus manendi or intention to remain lie in two different places, which is contrary to settled jurisprudence and even the Family Code.”
The couple is running “not because they wanted to get the best of both worlds but that’s what the law allows, not because we wanted to take advantage of the law but because that is the wish of the people of Taguig,” said George Garcia in an interview on ABS-CBN News Channel.
‘Let us say, for example, [si] Pedro, is a resident, domicile of Quezon, and then his wife happens to be a resident, domicile of Bicol, and then they had chosen Makati as their matrimonial domicile or matrimonial residence,” he explained.
The former Foreign Affairs secretary’s domicile of origin is Bagumbayan, District 1, where he is running for a seat in the House of Representatives, he explained. The incumbent Taguig mayor, for her part, has The Fort in District 2 as domicile.
“Senator Alan can run, can be voted upon and can vote in the first district, and Mayor Lani Cayetano can run, can vote and be voted upon in the second district,” Garcia said.
Asked if the separate domiciles meant the couple were living or will be living separately, Garcia said no and explained that their home in The Fort was also the conjugal residence.
He then hit back at the petitioners saying, “Precisely that is the shallowness of the argument, na ang kino-consider ng petitioner na dito ay not domicile but residence.”
Garcia also noted that by filing petitions against both the former Senator and wife, the petitioner was implying na “parehas silang walang domicile ngayon.”
As far as Senator Cayetano is concerned, his domicile remains to be in Bagumbayan, in the first district.”
Garcia added that not being in your district the whole time does not mean ineffective leadership, he clarified of the ex-senator’s going home to The Fort.
The purpose of the residency safety net in the Constitution and the laws was “to prevent a total and complete stranger from managing the affairs of government in that particular place,” which no one can claim of the Cayetanos, he said.
In running for the elections, Garcia said, “they are offering themselves to the electorate by the election.”