Court orders exclusion of Mejorada’s name from list of voters
Regional Trial Court Branch 26 Judge Antonio Natino has ordered the exclusion of the name of Provincial Administrator Manuel Mejorada from the List of Voters of Precinct No. 0100A, Barangay Pajo, Alimodian, Iloilo.
This after he reversed the decision of the 14th Municipal Circuit Trial Court, San Miguel, Iloilo dated October 7, 2009 dismissing the petition for exclusion of Mejorada from the List of Voters of the said place.
In his decision dated October 29, 2009, but was made available to the media only yesterday, Judge Natino ruled that the nipa hut in Brgy. Pajo which is claimed by Mejorada as his residence “does not fall within the category of residence contemplated by law.”
The judge cited the second paragraph of Sec. 9 of RA 8189 which states that “...Any person who temporarily resides in another city, municipality or country solely by reason of his occupation, profession, ... shall not be deemed to have lost his original residence.”
To recall, on September 24, 2009 Netch Flavio and Ireneo Mondero, who are residents of Brgy. Pajo, Alimodian, filed a petition for the exclusion of Mejorada from the List of Voters of precinct 0100A of Brgy. Pajo claiming that the latter or his family has never resided in their barangay and neither does he own any house, dwelling or any real property in the said barangay.
They added, Mejorada and his family continue to reside in Lopez Jaena St., Jaro, Iloilo City and his leasing of a parcel of land and construction of a mini nipa hut on the said barangay was only for the purpose of providing him with a place to stay “while engaging in vegetable farming at a nearby agricultural land.”
For his defense, Mejorada countered that the petitioners’ basis for the exclusion of his name from the list of voters or precinct 0100A is pathetically wrong and that the law of RA8189 does not require six months prior to registration as the requirement for a voter to register in a particular precinct but six months of residence in the place where they propose to vote immediately preceding the election.
Mejorada added that it is incumbent for him to have a residence for purposes of exercising his political rights of suffrage in Brgy. Pajo where he has a farm and engaged in the business of vegetable farming.
The court however ruled that: “Since the previous exclusion case filed and decided before the 13th Municipal Circuit Trial Court Sta Barbara-Pavia, Iloilo, wherein private respondent (Mejorada) who was declared not a resident of Pavia, Iloilo, was admittedly a resident of Lopez Jaena Street, Jaro, Iloilo City, and his domicile or residence in the latter place continues, until he acquires a new one. Considering the aforementioned discussions, private respondent failed to establish the fact of his residence at Barangay Pajo, Alimodian, Iloilo. Even the receipts which the private respondent showing the utility bills in their house in Jaro under the name of his deceased father-in-law cannot disprove, by his own admission, the fact that he is and still is a resident of Jaro, Iloilo City and that he has not abandoned the said place as his place of residence.”
