Doubts on Lapid’s residency might affect election bid

Will Leon Guerrero be able to meet the residency requirement to run for mayor in Makati City? In an exclusive story, GMA-7’ Saksi gathered documents Monday showing that Sen. Lito Lapid, former Pampanga governor, acquired a house on a 300 square-meter lot in Makati's Magallanes Village only on May 10, 2006. Section 39 of the 1991 Local Government Code (LGC) mandates, among others, that an elective official be a resident for at least one year in the district he or she intends to be elected “immediately preceding the day of the election". Section 65 of the Omnibus Election Code provides that the qualifications for elective officials “shall be those provided for" in the LGC. If Lapid started living in his Magallanes residence on the same day he bought it, that means he was able to wriggle out the one-year residency requirement by only four days. The mid-term elections is on May 14. Lapid said it would be unfair if he would be disqualified from the race for not meeting the residency requirement. He said Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay is not also originally from the city. “None of us originally resides in Makati. We are both from the provinces. [Binay]'s province is farther than mine. He is from Cagayan and I am only from Pampanga. If we will walk to Makati, I will arrive earlier than him," said Lapid in Filipino. -GMANews.TV