Wakee ‘can’t run’

BOXING promoter Rex “Wakee” Salud cannot run for mayor of Cordova town, Cebu after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Manila disqualified him as a voter.

This came after the Comelec’s Second Division, presided by Commissioner Lucenito Tagle, granted Cordova Mayor Adelino Sitoy’s petition to cancel Salud’s certificate of candidacy (COC).

“Respondent is not and cannot be a registered voter of Barangay Cogon, Cordova.

Neither can he be eligible to run for the position he seeks to be voted for in the May 13, 2013 elections,” the Comelec Second Division’s resolution read.

Salud, in a phone interview, said he is not happy with the decision, which he has yet to read.

He filed his COC last Oct. 4 to run for mayor against Sitoy.

“Sa kadaghan sa mga kaso, nganong sayo nadesisyonan ang amoa? (There are so many cases pending before the Comelec, why was my case decided on so swiftly?)” he wondered.

The businessman said he will appeal the decision, but he will first consult his lawyer.

“Sa boxing pa na down ta, pero wa pa ma-knock out (If this were a boxing match, I’m down but I’m not yet knocked out),” he said.

“Habang may buhay pa may pag-asa (There is hope while I am alive),” he added.

Last Dec. 26, the Comelec Second Division ruled that Salud failed to prove that he had totally abandoned his residence in Punta Princesa, Cebu City.

His residency in Barangay Cogon also fell short of the one-year residency requirement for him to be eligible to run for mayor.

Salud claimed that he has been renting a house in Barangay Cogon since June 2011, bought a 2,000-square-meter lot there and opened a lumber store.

In her affidavit, the house owner, Marcosa Dinoy, said that Salud has been to the house several times during weekends and slept there whenever he wanted to.

“It can be inferred, therefore, that respondent only intends to stay in Cordova momentarily as he treated the place as a rest house during his weekend visits,” the decision read.

“It is settled that the term ‘residence’ is to be understood not in its common acceptation as referring to ‘dwelling or habitation,’ but rather to ‘domicile’ or legal residence—that is, the place where a party actually or constructively has his permanent home, where he, no matter where he may be found at any given time, eventually intends to return and remain,” the Comelec decision read.

The issue that Salud is a registered voter, according to the commissioners, has become “moot and academic” after the denial of his second application for transfer of registration records by the Election Registration Board (ERB) of Cordova last Nov. 29.

Last Oct. 30, Salud withdrew his appeal before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Mandaue City.

The RTC had also denied Salud’s petition for inclusion in the list of voters last Oct. 1.

“Once established, a person’s domicile is considered to continue and will not be deemed lost until a new one is established. To successfully effect a change of domicile, one must demonstrate an actual removal or an actual change of domicile, a bona fide intention of abandoning the former place of residence and establishing a new one and definite acts which correspond with the purpose,” the commissioners said. KAL/JBM of Superbalita