Vice President Leni Robredo owns a residential property in Magarao, Camarines Sur, but her spokesperson clarified it’s not intended for her supposed 2022 political plan to run for governor in her home province.
Robredo’s spokesman Barry Gutierrez said the vice president and her siblings purchased a tract of land in Magarao town after their mother Sally Gerona’s death in February 2020.
“They are having a house built on it. The purchase of the property was a family decision,” Gutierrez, a lawyer, told the Manila Bulletin.
Robredo had registered herself on the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys), where she had her biometrics and photo taken at its registration center last May 4 in Magarao instead of her hometown of Naga City, an independent component city.
She also got her barangay clearance, which is one of the secondary requirements for the issuance of the PhilSys ID, from Brgy. Carangcang in the same municipality. The issuance of barangay certificate of residency for a government ID can only be granted to a resident of the barangay.
Republic Act No. 305, the law that created the independent component city of Naga, states that although registered voters in the city cannot vote for provincial posts, they are allowed to run for a provincial office.
However, a division of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in 2013 ruled that registered voters of an independent component city also cannot run for a provincial post.
In 2020, the Supreme Court backed this ruling.
According to Robredo’s office, the vice president remains to be a voter for now in Naga City since she has not transferred registration.
Gutierrez explained the vice president’s acquisition of a property in Magarao “was not made with any political consideration.”
As the highest elected official of the opposition Liberal Party, Robredo has long been touted as possible presidential candidate in 2022.
https://mb.com.ph/2021/05/06/robredo-on-2022-elections-politics-can-wait/
But she had previously said she’s open to run for a local post, fueling rumors that she’s eyeing the gubernatorial post in Camarines Sur and stopping the politically influential Villafuerte clan.
As a resident and voter of Naga City, the vice president has to transfer to a different municipality to be eligible for the governorship.