ROMUALDEZ-MARCOS VS.

COMELEC
318 PHIL 329 (1995)

Marcos filed an amended COC and changed the residency portion from seven months
to since childhood and claimed that her earlier entry was simply a result of an "honest
misinterpretation or honest mistake." Although she only became a resident of the
Municipality of Tolosa for seven months, she has always been a resident of Tacloban
City, a component of the First District, before coming to Tolosa, and has always
maintained Tacloban City as her domicile or residence.

The Comelec En Banc upheld the division and declared Marcos as disqualified from
running for the First District of Leyte for failing to meet the residency requirement. The
Comelec Division declared Marcos disqualified for failing to meet and prove the one year
residency requirement. It did not give credence to her claim of honest error. Moreover,
the division found that, except for the time that she studied and worked for some years
after graduation in Tacloban City, she continuously lived in Manila.

In the meantime, Marcos was the overwhelming winner of the elections for the
congressional seat in the First District of Leyte in the May 8, 1995 elections. In view of
the Comelec Resolution suspending her proclamation, Marcos filed a petition with the
Supreme Court to obtain relief.

Whether or not Marcos complied with the one year residency rule

Yes, In election cases, the term "residence" has always been considered as
synonymous with "domicile" which imports not only the intention to reside in a fixed
place but also personal presence in-that place, coupled with conduct indicative of such
intention. Domicile denotes a fixed permanent residence to which when absent for
business or pleasure, or for like reasons, one intends to return.

"Residence" is used to indicate a place of abode, whether permanent or temporary;

"domicile" denotes a fixed permanent residence to which, when absent, one has the
intention of returning. A man may have a residence in one place and a domicile in
another. Residence is not domicile, but domicile is residence coupled with the intention
to remain for an unlimited time. A man can have but one domicile for the same purpose
at any time, but he may have numerous places of residence.

The essential distinction between residence and domicile in law is that residence
involves the intent to leave when the purpose for which the resident has taken up his
abode ends.