Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III raised serious legal and constitutional concerns over Marikina Mayor Marcelino “Marcy” Teodoro’s recent transfer from District 2 to District 1 to run for Congress in the upcoming 2025 elections.
In an interview on Headstart on Tuesday, Pimentel stressed that the period of residence requirement is crystal clear in the constitution.
“It’s not only a legal issue; it’s a constitutional issue because the period of residence requirement is in the constitution,” Pimentel said.
According to Pimentel, election lawyers have studied the “curious case of Marcy Teodoro” and flagged a serious “legitimate legal issue” stemming from Teodoro’s overlapping declarations of residence in both districts.
Under oath, Marcy declared that he was a resident of two places at the same time, according to the 1991 bar topnotcher, adding that this could be grounds for material misrepresentation under the Omnibus Election Code.
“There are political implications and legal implications. Those are the two issues here,” he said.
Pimentel explained that candidates for Congress are required to be residents of the district they intend to represent for at least one year before the election.
“For the candidates, they should be conscious of the second requirement — that you must be a resident at least one year before the election in the district that you want to run in,” Pimentel explained.
Pimentel believed that Teodoro’s decision to return to District 1 might be for his own “political survival.”
In the same interview, Pimentel disputed Teodoro’s claims that it was their camp that abandoned their alliance.
He pointed out that just a few months into their supposed alliance, Teodoro had instructed his supporters to distance themselves from the Pimentel camp.
“We have not spoken. That’s the problem. We were ghosted,” Pimentel said.
“Imagine Kat, my wife, going to the designated venue for a meeting, and when she’s there, she will be called saying the meeting is canceled. At any rate, it’s been that exasperating,” Pimentel lamented.
He added that his wife, Special Envoy to the United Arab Emirates Kat Pimentel, had repeatedly tried to clarify the situation with Teodoro’s wife, District 1 Rep. Maan Teodoro, to no avail.
“Out of exasperation, Kat, my wife, sent them a text. What is this really? What we’re hearing on the ground, because the leaders and observers are also reporting that Mayor Marcy is saying something different. So out of exasperation, Kat tried to communicate with Maan to clear things up. But she didn’t answer. That’s it,” Pimentel explained.
Apparently, this was not the first time the Teodoros “ghosted” their supposed allies.
“I’ve also complained to some local politicians in Marikina and they’re saying, hindi na lang naman po kayo ang na-ghosted. Yung mga meetings na hindi pinupuntahan, istilo na pala ‘yan. Yung mga tao na pinapaasa, tapos may mga pangako na hindi tutuparin. Ang sabi nila hindi lang ikaw ang nauna diyan. Naubos na nga kami diyan. Siguro naubos na ang local politicians kaya they extended it to a national politician,” Pimentel said.
Pimentel believed that Teodoro’s decision to return to District 1 might be for his own “political survival.”
“Maybe he conducted a survey, and his numbers were not good against the Quimbos. Out of desperation, out of the desire to remain politically relevant, maybe he thought, ‘I’ll go back to District 1 where I am the kingpin,'” Pimentel said.
In hindsight, Pimentel said the short-lived alliance with the Teodoros was too good to be true, to begin with.
He noted that even his fellow colleagues in the Senate were in disbelief that Marcy would offer district one to them.
“Actually, my fellow senators know this. Kasi nung kinikwento ko sa kanila at the start, sabi nila wow, that’s a very nice arrangement. That’s a fantastic arrangement,” he said.
“So we are back to the saying, if it’s too good to be true, then it is probably a scam,” he said.
