Aga’s residency in Camarines Sur town questioned

NAGA CITY—A group led by a former town mayor is opposing the registration as voter of movie actor Aga Muhlach in San Jose, Camarines Sur, an official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in the province said.

Provincial Comelec spokesperson Alexander Marpuri said the petitioners led by former town Mayor Gilmar Pacamara and 14 others argued that Muhlach could not register as a voter of the town as he has never been known to be a resident of San Jose and failed to meet the one-year residency requirement.

The group lodged their petition before the municipal Election Registration Board (ERB) when it convened on April 16.

Muhlach, who filed his voter’s registration on March 19, had said he considered himself a native as his father belonged to the Amador and Borja clans, who hailed from the towns of Goa and San Jose.  He said he had been visiting San Jose since he was young to bond with his father’s relatives and was now building a house in the town.

Muhlach’s move was keenly watched by political observers here even as the actor has refused to talk about any political plan. But he appeared to have allied himself with Gov. Luis Raymund “LRay” Villafuerte, the political rival of Deputy Speaker Arnulfo Fuentebella, who is now serving his last term as representative of Camarines Sur’s fourth district, where San Jose belongs.

Marpuri said all municipal and city ERBs nationwide were ordered convened on April 16, 17, 18 and 19 to deliberate and update the registration of voters and decide on the approval or disapproval of new voters who registered from January to March 2012.

“In the case of San Jose, when they (ERB) convened there was an opposition in the application for registration of Aga Muhlach represented by lawyers, though I don’t have details on who is behind the move against his registration,” Marpuri said.

The municipal ERB is composed of the election officer as chair and the local civil registrar and the supervisor of the Department of Education in the locality as members.

San Jose Election Officer Imelda Añonuevo had invited Muhlach to appear before the ERB on April 16, but the movie star was said to be out of the country.

Marpuri said Muhlach was given until April 19 to give his response but the Muhlach couple, Aga and Charlene, failed to appear in the hearing of petition for disqualification on Thursday. The hearing was reset to April 25.

Marpuri clarified that even though the national Comelec had set the simultaneous reconvening of the ERBs to decide on new voters’ application from April 16-19, they could continue the processing of new voters’ applications until these were finished.

But once the ERB has approved or disapproved the voter’s application it could not be appealed, he stressed.

The legal remedy for the aggrieved party would be to file a petition for inclusion or exclusion in the voters’ list at the Municipal Circuit Trial Court. The filing of the voter’s petition should not be later than Nov. 1, he said.