23. Juliet B. Dano v.
COMELEC & Marie year residency requirement
Karen Joy B. Digal
Facts:
● Petitioner is a natural-born Filipino
citizen, hailing from the municipality
of Sevilla, Bohol. She emigrated to
the US to work as a nurse, and
eventually acquired American
citizenship.
● On 2 February and 30 March 2012,
respectively, she obtained a
Community Tax Certificate in Sevilla,
and took her oath of allegiance at
the Philippine Consulate in Los
Angeles.
● On 2 May 2012, she registered as a
voter in Sevilla, following which she
returned to the US, purportedly to
wind up her affairs and sell her
properties abroad.
● On 30 September 2012, she
returned to the Philippines and
executed a sworn statement
renouncing any and all foreign
citizenship.
● On 4 October 2012, she filed her
CoC for the mayoralty race of
Sevilla, representing herself as
having been a resident of Sevilla for
1 year, 11 days prior to the 13 March
2013 elections (or, 2 May 2012)
● One week later, private respondent
Mary Karen Joy Digal filed a petition
to cancel Dano’s CoC. Digal is the
daughter of Dano’s opposition in the
mayoralty race, whom Dano would
best by 668 votes.
○ Digal alleged that Dano’s
CoC was void for material
misrepresentations of fact, as
Digal claimed that Dano
failed to meet the one (1)
under Section 39 of the LGC.
○ As evidence, Digal presented
documents which showed
that Dano had no voting
record prior to 30 October
2012, and that she had no
real property in Sevilla as of
the same date.
○ In her defense, Dano
presented documents
obtained throughout 2012
such as her Community Tax
Certificate (2 Feb 2012),
Application for Voter
Registration (2 May 2012),
her Philippine passport (27
April 2012), Deeds of
Absolute Sale of Land in
favor of Dano (18 May 2012).
● Five days before the elections in
May of 2013, the COMELEC issued
a ruling cancelling Dano’s CoC, for
failure to establish domicile under
the one-year residence requirement
of the LGC.
○ The COMELEC held that the
establishment of domicile
must be evinced by clear,
concrete, and specific acts
establishing the choice of the
party. This, Dano did not
demonstrate.
● While Dano’s MR was before the
COMELEC en banc, she assumed
office as the elected mayor of
Sevilla, Bohol. In December of 2013,
the COMELEC en banc rejected her
MR, hence she filed the instant
petition for certiorari seeking the
reversal of the decision rendered
against her by the COMELEC.
Issue: W/N Dano indeed failed to comply
with the one (1) year residency requirement
established by the LGC.

Held:
● The general rule is that actual
physical presence, in addition to
animus manendi and animus
revertendi, is required to establish
domicile.
○ While this is true, the law
does not require that such
presence be unbroken. The
law does not require that the
prospective candidate stay
and never leave the place for
the period required under the
LGC.
● It should be noted that at no point is
it controverted that petitioner’s
citizenship did not arise at the
required time; All that is claimed is
that Dano’s absence from Sevilla for
a period of roughly four months
disqualifies her under the residence
rule.
● The SC held that Dano’s acts of
filing for candidacy and residence in
the Dano ancestral home beginning
early in 2012, in addition to her
return to the US for the purpose of
disposing of her properties there,
evince her intent to reside and
remain in Sevilla.
● COMELEC’s ruling that Dano’s
absence of 4 months disqualifies her
under the residency requirement of
the LGC is erroneous.
● Therefore, Dano’s petition is
granted.