Ex-Chief Justice weighs in on citizenship issue

http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Opinion&title=ex-chief-justice-weighs-in-on-citizenship-issue&id=110180

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Posted on June 24, 2015

Now that Senator Grace Poe has overtaken in the public opinion polls all the aspirants for the presidency, she and her supporters
should brace themselves for a minute scrutiny of her qualifications to vie for the highest position in the land. This will not necessarily
be malicious but mandatory in the interests of electing a legally qualified President.
In my previous column, I asked:
When and how did Poe reacquire her Philippine citizenship, thereby becoming a dual citizen?
Or did she simply assume that she automatically reacquired Philippine citizenship upon renouncing her US citizenship?
Poe appears to have answered the two questions herself in an interview with GMA News, which I quoted verbatim:
To revert back to Filipino citizenship, ire-renounce mo lang yung US citizenship mo. Yun lang ang ginawa ko. Yun kasi
ang condition ng Dual Citizenship Law. Hindi iyon to reacquire Philippine citizenship kasi it reverts back to that automatically. (To
revert back to Filipino citizenship, you simply renounce your US citizenship. Thats all I did. That is the condition of the Dual
Citizenship Law. You need not reacquire Philippine citizenship because it reverts back to that automatically)
Poes statement implies that she did not undergo any formal process to reacquire her Philippine citizenship, having presumed, in her
own words, that to revert back to Filipino citizenship, ire-renounce mo lang yung US citizenship mo.
And she underscored that by stating, Yun lang ang ginawa ko. (Thats all I did.)
Sadly, Poe is mistaken. In the case of Labo, Jr. vs Comelec, the Supreme Court held: Philippine citizenship is not a cheap commodity
that can be easily recovered after its renunciation. It may be restored only after the returning renegade makes a formal act of rededication to the country he has abjured and he solemnly affirms once again his total and exclusive loyalty to the Republic of the
Philippines.
Former Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban has written two pieces in another paper on this controversy. In the first piece, Panganiban
supported the thesis that as a foundling, Poe could be considered a natural-born Filipino. The second piece discussed Poes reported
reacquisition of her Philippine citizenship.
In his second piece, Panganiban may have assumed that Poe took the Oath of Allegiance to the country. But he raised a red flag
when he commented on the case of David vs Aglipay:
Renato David, who became a Canadian before the effectivity of RA 9225, represented himself to be a Filipino citizen in his
application to purchase public land filed before he took his oath of allegiance. Not having taken the required oath, he had not yet
reacquired his Philippine citizenship when he executed under oath his said application. Thus, the Court held that he was liable for
falsification of a public document.
There are several steps required for reacquisition of Philippine citizenship, through the Bureau of Immigration, the Department of
Foreign Affairs and the Department of Justice. The final act is taking the Oath of Allegiance.
The question that Poe should answer is: Did she or did she not follow the mandated procedures, particularly taking the Oath? If not,
then she did not reacquire her Philippine citizenship, based on the jurisprudence cited by Panganiban and based on the provisions of
RA 9225.
Now, granting for the sake of argument, that Poe did take the Oath. If that happened as a consequence of her renunciation of US
citizenship -- which was either in 2010 or 2012, depending on which media report you wish to believe (according to one news report,
Poes US passport was issued by the Washington Passport Agency in December 2011) -- this means she lacks the 10-year residency
requirement to qualify as a candidate for President or Vice-President.

It would help clarify the issue if Poe were to voluntarily present documents to establish the legality of her alleged reacquisition of
Philippine citizenship, as well as the corresponding timeline. Disappointingly, she has chosen to remain silent, perhaps buying time
while her lawyers study the situation. Unfortunately, that erodes her self-proclaimed moral ascendancy.
I hate to say this, but this matter, if left unresolved, could open a whole new can of worms. First, it brings into question the
legitimacy of her appointment as head of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB), which requires
Philippine citizenship. One is constrained to ask: Was Poe wittingly or unwittingly guilty of falsifying a public document?
Then there is the matter of repeated trips to the Philippines using her US passport; the fact that she managed and, conceivably,
worked in her late fathers company; and the fact that she bought a house in the Philippines in 2005 as a temporary residence while
a more permanent house was under construction, to quote a media report.
Did she do all of these as an American citizen and was she allowed by law? To the jaded observer, theres probably nothing wrong
with that, what with aliens routinely illegally working, doing business and buying property in our country, under the approving noses
of authorities.
But for someone being considered for the presidency of the Philippines, that is crucial. And for someone who has waved the banner
of honesty and integrity as the standard for her political career, the issue cannot simply be dismissed as the way things are done.
The situation gets murkier for Poe. In her certificate of candidacy for the Senate, filed in 2012, she stated, under oath, that she
would have been a resident of the Philippines for six years and six months by election day, May 13, 2013.
That issue, raised by UNA party interim president Representative Toby Tiangco, may be enough to place Poes residency as a
presidential candidate under a dark cloud. The cloud becomes darker if she reckoned her Philippine residency as a US citizen, rather
than as a citizen of the Philippines.
Article VII, Section 2 of the 1987 Constitution states: No person may be elected President unless he is a natural-born citizen of the
Philippines, a registered voter, able to read and write, at least forty years of age on the day of the election, and a resident of the
Philippines for at least ten years immediately preceding such election.
Section 3 states: There shall be a Vice-President who shall have the same qualifications and term of office and be elected with, and
in the same manner, as the President.
In other words, the fundamental law of the land is crystal clear on the matter. The 10-year residency requirement is an integral part
of the enumeration of the qualifications of a Philippine President. The legal eagles may argue that residency is separate from the
other qualifications, but that argument would be treading on very shaky ground indeed.
But, in fairness to Senator Poe, we may all be like Chicken Little, frantically announcing that the sky is about to fall. Poe has
continued to be noncommittal about her presidential or vice-presidential plans, if any. She may decide not to run for either position
at all, and all of these could be nothing more than an intellectual exercise.
Of course, Poes advisers may suggest that the best way to overcome the objections is to fabricate documents to support the validity
of her Philippine citizenship and her residency.
I should hope not. Otherwise, we can all forget about her purported honesty and integrity.
Greg B. Macabenta is an advertising and communications man shuttling between San Francisco and Manila and providing unique
insights on issues from both perspectives.