RESIDENCY ISSUE: Group puzzled by Comelec inaction on case against Yap

By Kit Bagaipo
Philippine Daily Inquirer


TAGBILARAN CITY—AN ALLIANCE OF fishermen expressed bewilderment over the delay in the Commission on Elections’ action on the disqualification case it filed against former Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, who is running unopposed for congressman in Bohol’s third district.

The Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya), in the case it filed at the Comelec, said Yap was not qualified to represent Bohol’s third district because he does not reside there.

Pamalakaya said Yap continues to reside in Ortigas, Pasig City, and has never abandoned it as his domicile.

Election requirement

Election laws require candidates for congressmen to be residents of the district they want to represent for at least a year before the elections.

The group said Yap’s case was similar to that of actor Richard Gomez, who was declared by the Comelec’s Second Division not qualified to run for representative in Leyte for not being a resident there.

Pamalakaya said the Comelec has yet to tackle the case against Yap.

“We are puzzled by this development. The disqualification case we filed last March 9 should have been resolved in the soonest possible time or at least one week after we filed the disqualification case against Secretary Yap,” Pamalakaya chair Fernando Hicap said in a statement sent to the Inquirer.

Untouchable?

“Is Mr. Yap really untouchable according to political circles in and out of Comelec?” Hicap said.

At least 40 members of Pamalakaya and party-list group Anakpawis trooped to the Comelec national office on Thursday to ask Melo and the Comelec commissioners to tackle immediately the disqualification case against Yap.

The group filed a manifestation and motion urging the poll body to set the formal hearing for the disqualification case.

On March 9, the group also filed additional pieces of information before the Comelec to strengthen the disqualification case that the farmers filed against Yap.

The additional pieces of evidence include sworn statements signed by three officials of Barangay Buenavista in Loboc town disputing Yap’s claim that he was a resident of the far-flung barangay as he declared in his certificate of candidacy.

House on rough road

The supplemental information, which carried the signatures of former Barangay Buenavista secretary Corbino Cuhit, incumbent barangay councilor Basilio Balog and resident Mateo Ratonel, brother of incumbent barangay councilor Boy Ratonel, maintained that Yap has never been a resident of the barangay and that he just arrived in Buenavista at the start of the election season.

The three said the house and the address referred to by Yap as his official domicile in Buenavista, Loboc, was located in an area that was not passable by any motorized vehicle, except motorcycles, due to its rough roads and mountainous curves.

Pamalakaya maintained that Yap could not even speak the language of Boholanos. The group also said the former agriculture secretary and his family continue to stay in Metro Manila and that, in the concept of domicile under election laws, is at Alexandra Residence in Pasig City.

“His visits in Bohol are infrequent, short and transient,” Pamalakaya said.

Pamalakaya also cited the cases they filed against Yap in connection with the P455 million overpriced ice-making machines and the P7.14 billion in agriculture funds cited by the Commission on Audit in its 2008 report as missing, diverted or misspent.

“We filed this case not to spoil the political ambition of Secretary Yap. We filed this case because we want truth and justice to prevail over the narrow interest of the new breed of traditional and corrupt politicians,” the fisherman’s group added.