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Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Editorial: Can they stop Gabby Leyson?
UNLIKE most other complaints questioning the residence of would-be candidates for public office, Gabriel Leyson's case offers something different.
Leyson, while still holding his post of Cebu City councilor, has applied with the Comelec for transfer of registration to Talisay City.
If he lives in Cebu City and is considered a resident and a public official of Cebu City, can he be legally considered resident of Talisay City?
At this time, he is still effectively and legally a resident of Cebu City. When must requirements for transfer be met: when the application is filed or only on election day?
A six-month residence is required for Leyson to vote and be elected in Talisay? How can he establish residence there without resigning as councilor and moving from his Cebu City house to his Talisay house at least a half year before elections?
Persons who don't see the law's logic must find the residence requirement not only unclear but also flawed.
Not actual residence
The defect, which gives politicians the chance to bend or break the rule, is that legal residence does not need actual presence, only intent.
An intent to stay and an intent to return are enough.
Build a resthouse or renovate a garage where you occasionally sleep: there is intent to stay. If you go there on weekends or for caucuses with leaders, there is intent to return.
Leyson resided in Tabunok years ago and owns properties there. He also reportedly built a "small house" in Talisay. That must show "animus" to stay and return, his lawyers will argue, Leyson has legal residence.
The law is defective and is not clear.
The residence requirement has been made a sham by politicians who establish legal residence by setting up a temporary home and making occasional visits to it.
The opposition of four barangay captains to the registration may expose again the law's loopholes but it is unlikely to derail Leyson's candidacy.
By the ballot
True, actual residence is preferable to legal residence. Until the law is changed, however, stopping Leyson may not be done by seeking his disqualification but by rejecting him through the ballot.
If he represents a regime in Cebu City that has made tormenting Talisaynons an obsession, that should make the job of whipping up an anti-Gabby sentiment a little easier.
Caution though: Just a bit easier---an election can still be tampered with or bought.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (July 19, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
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