MANILA, Philippines -- (UPDATE) Boxing icon Manny Pacquiao will have to slug it out with Roy Chiongbian, a member of an influential Saranggani clan, in the fight to represent Saranggani in the House of Representatives on May 10.

The Commission on Elections First Division dismissed, on Wednesday, the disqualification charge filed by the People’s Champ Movement, Pacquiao’s political party, due to lack of merit.

The First Division, in its decision, ruled in favor of Chiongbian, saying he accomplished the one-year residency requirement and was eligible to run for the May local polls.

The ruling penned by Commissioner Armando Velasco said Chiongbian did not abandon his residence in Saranggani all these years despite his businesses in Manila.

Comelec also took note of Chiongbian’s registration and his business transactions, interests, and properties in the province.

“His regular presence in Kling is even corroborated by witnesses who attest to respondent’s physical presence in Kling plantation in Saranggani province,” the ruling said.

Chiongbian, 60, is a member of a political clan in Sarangani. His brother Edwin is the current representative of the province and his parents used to be governors.

The campaign to represent Sarangani in the House of Representative is Pacquiao’s second venture into politics.

In the 2007 national elections, the boxing champion ran for congressman of General Santos City, but lost to the incumbent representative Darlene Antonino-Custodio.

PCM, in its complaint, said Chiongbian has not lived in Purok 1, Barangay Kling, Kiamba, Sarangani as he stated in his certificate of candidacy.

Chiongbian’s Sarangani address “was used and abused for election purposes only. Respondent could hardly be seen thereat,” the petition said.

Furthermore, PCM pointed out that Chiongbian’s real residence has been in Ayala Alabang, Muntinlupa City, and that the candidate has been attending to a “huge business interest” in Metro Manila.

Meanwhile, the First Division disqualified Palawan gubernatorial candidate Abraham Kahlil Mitra, a member of the Liberal Party, from the local contest, saying he has not established the one-year required residency in the Aborlan district.

The decision written by Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal ruled in favor of Antonio Gonzales and Orlando Balbon Jr., who said Mitra failed to prove that he had abandoned his residence in Puerto Princesa in favor of Aborlan.

As a highly urbanized city separate from the province of Palawan, Puerto Princesa residents do not vote for governor, vice-governor, and provincial council.

The evidence that Mitra presented – an apparently “unlived” and “sparse” room and sworn statements that seemed to have been written by one person – showed that he has not left his Puerto Princesa residence.

“In the instant case, Mitra, through his external actions and through evidence he presented, failed to prove, to our satisfaction, that he had effected an abandonment of his domicile of origin in Puerto Princesa City and has established a new domicile of choice in Arbolan, Palawan,” the decision read.

Mitra’s lawyer, Sixto Brillantes, assailed the ruling. At the beginning of the promulgation on Wednesday, he asked the commission to investigate the alleged leakage of the draft decision, which was circulated in Palawan.

Larrazabal said Brillantes should explain to the commission how he got hold of the draft.

Mitra, in a statement, said: “We are ready to file a motion for reconsideration to the en banc.”

“I dare to challenge anyone to prove that I am not familiar with the conditions of Aborlan or the entire Palawan for that matter. Even before I was born, my father Monching was congressman of Palawan in 1965,” he said, referring to the late House Speaker Ramon Mitra.