003. MERCADO VS.

MANZANO
ERNESTO S. MERCADO, petitioner, vs. EDUARDO BARRIOS MANZANO and the COMMISSION ON
ELECTIONS, respondents.
May 26 1999
MENDOZA, J.

FACTS: Ernesto S. Mercado and Eduardo B. Manzano were candidates for vice mayor of the City of Makati in the May 11,
1998 elections. Manzano was then declared the winning candidate; however its proclamation was suspended in view of
a pending petition for disqualification filed by a certain Ernesto Mamaril who alleged that Manzano was not a citizen
of the Philippines but of the United States.

In its resolution, dated May 7, 1998, the Second Division of the COMELEC granted the petition of Mamaril and ordered
the cancellation of the certificate of candidacy of Manzano on the ground that he is a dual citizen and, Section 40(d) of
the Local Government Code provides that persons with dual citizenship are disqualified from running for any elective
position.

Manzano admitted that he is registered as a foreigner with the Bureau of Immigration under Alien Certificate
of Registration No. B-31632 and alleged that he was a natural born Filipino citizen by operation of the 1935 Philippine
Constitution, as his father and mother were Filipinos at the time of his birth. At the age of 6, his parents brought him to
the Philippines using an American passport as travel document. His parents registered him as an alien with the
Philippine Bureau of Immigration. He was issued an alien certificate of registration. This, however, did not result in the
loss of his Philippine citizenship, as he did not renounce Philippine citizenship and did not take an oath of allegiance to
the United States. He was born in the United States, San Francisco, California, on September 14, 1955, and is considered
an American citizen under US Laws and under the principle of jus soli. From these facts, he contends that he is a dual
citizen - both a Filipino and a US citizen.

After an unresolved motion to intervene by filed by Mercado, the COMELEC en banc reversed the decision of the Second
Division and declared Manzano qualified to run for Makati vice mayor and for the Makati City Board of Canvassers to
reconvene and proclaim the Manzano as the winning candidate for vice-mayor of Makati City.

Mercado appealed, saying that Manzano renounced his U.S. citizenship when he attained the age of majority when he
was already 37 years old; and, renounced his U.S. citizenship when he (merely) registered himself as a voter and voted in
the elections of 1992, 1995 and 1998.

ISSUE: WON Manzano is a Filipino citizen. (YES)
DISPOSITIVE: Petition DISMISSED.

RATIO: Mercado seeks to disqualify Manzano under Sec 40 of the LGC of 1991, which declares as disqualified from
running for any elective local position: . . . (d) Those with dual citizenship. This provision is incorporated in the Charter
of the City of Makati.

Dual citizenship is different from dual allegiance. The former arises when, as a result of the concurrent application of the
different laws of two or more states, a person is simultaneously considered a national by the said states. For instance,
such a situation may arise when a person whose parents are citizens of a state which adheres to the principle of jus
sanguinis is born in a state which follows the doctrine of jus soli. Manzano is considered as a dual citizen because he is
born of Filipino parents but was born in San Francisco, USA. Such a person, ipso facto and without any voluntary act on
his part, is concurrently considered a citizen of both states.

Considering the citizenship clause under Article IV of the Constitution, it is possible for the following classes of citizens of
the Philippines to posses dual citizenship:
(1) Those born of Filipino fathers and/or mothers in foreign countries which follow the principle of jus soli;
(2) Those born in the Philippines of Filipino mothers and alien fathers if by the laws of their fathers country such
children are citizens of that country;
(3) Those who marry aliens if by the laws of the latters country the former are considered citizens, unless by their act or
omission they are deemed to have renounced Philippine citizenship.

Dual allegiance, on the other hand, refers to the situation in which a person simultaneously owes, by some positive act,
loyalty to two or more states. While dual citizenship is involuntary, dual allegiance is the result of an individuals volition.

Clearly, in including 5 in Article IV on citizenship, the concern of the Constitutional Commission was not with dual
citizens per se but with naturalized citizens who maintain their allegiance to their countries of origin even after their
naturalization. Hence, the phrase dual citizenship in R.A. No. 7160, 40(d) and in R.A. No. 7854, 20 must be
understood as referring to dual allegiance.

Consequently, persons with mere dual citizenship do not fall under this disqualification. Unlike those with dual
allegiance, who must, therefore, be subject to strict process with respect to the termination of their status, for
candidates with dual citizenship, it should suffice if, upon the filing of their certificates of candidacy, they elect Philippine
citizenship to terminate their status as persons with dual citizenship considering that their condition is the unavoidable
consequence of conflicting laws of different states.

As Joaquin G. Bernas, one of the most perceptive members of the Constitutional Commission, pointed out: Dual
citizenship is just a reality imposed on us because we have no control of the laws on citizenship of other countries. We
recognize a child of a Filipino mother. But whether or not she is considered a citizen of another country is something
completely beyond our control.

By electing Philippine citizenship, such candidates at the same time forswear allegiance
to the other country of which they are also citizens and thereby terminate their status as dual citizens. It may be that,
from the point of view of the foreign state and of its laws, such an individual has not effectively renounced his foreign
citizenship.

By filing a certificate of candidacy when he ran for his present post, Manzano elected Philippine citizenship and in effect
renounced his American citizenship. The filing of such certificate of candidacy sufficed to renounce his
American citizenship, effectively removing any disqualification he might have as a dual citizen.

By declaring in his certificate of candidacy that he is a Filipino citizen; that he is not a permanent resident or immigrant
of another country; that he will defend and support the Constitution of the Philippines and bear true faith and allegiance
thereto and that he does so without mental reservation, Manzano has, as far as the laws of this country are concerned,
effectively repudiated his American citizenship and anything which he may have said before as a dual citizen. On the
other hand, Manzanos oath of allegiance to the Philippine, when considered with the fact that he has spent his youth
and adulthood, received his education, practiced his profession as an artist, and taken part in past elections in this
country, leaves no doubt of his election of Philippine citizenship.