Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Amid fears of tampering of documents, the presidential polls front runner now says she is relieved to finally have the chance to explain her side in the proper
forum.
Below are the main points of her reply and the timeline of her life as a Filipino, based on documents she submitted.
Poes camp says the citizenship and residency issues should be taken up separately.
Poe complied with the citizenship and residency requirement for a senator.
Poe was already a resident of the Philippines in May 2005, longer than what she indicated in her Certificate of Candidacy.
She (together with her 3 kids) became a Filipino citizen (dual citizen) in 2006. She renounced her American citizenship on October 21, 2010, when she
She re-affirmed this renunciation in 2011 before a vice consul at the United States embassy in Manila.
The US State Department approved this in February 2012 but her last US passport and the approved document showed she self expatriated herself
Sen. Grace Poe's new birth certificate after legal adoption. (Photo by Office of Sen. Grace Poe)
While petitioner Rizalito David said Poes adoption did not confer to her the same Philippine citizenship of her adoptive parents and that she remains to be
stateless, Poe argued that the rights of a foundling are supported by international declarations, most of which the Philippines is a signatory to.
On August 21, 1990, the Philippines ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, protecting the right of a new-born to a nationality, and to
ensure that every child is protected from statelessness from birth.
The 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which the Philippines ratified on October 23, 1986, recognized the right of every child to
acquire a nationality.
While the country adopted these two conventions years after Poe was born, her camp said they are retroactive. Citing the Vienna Convention on the Law of
Treaties, they said there is no prohibition against the retroactive application of treaties unless a different intention appears.
What is prohibited, Poes camp said, is the application of a treaty to a fact or status which does not exist before the treaty entered into force. After all, they said
Poe remained to be a foundling before and after the ratifications.
Poes camp also cited the deliberations of the framers of the 1935 Constitution. While it did not expressly mention foundlings in Section 1, Article 4, former Senator
Manuel Roxas said they would not include foundlings because the number of cases are few and that international laws are there to protect them.
Mr. President, my humble opinion is that these cases are few and far in between, that the constitution need [not] refer to them. By international law the principle
that children or people born in a country of unknown parents are citizens in this nation is recognized, and it is not necessary to include a provision on the subject
exhaustively, Roxas said, as cited by Poes verified answer.
Poes lawyers also cited other countries that have the same citizenship law as the Philippines (jus sanguinis or by blood). Countries such as Austria and United
Kingdom have passed laws that presume foundlings to be born of parents who are citizens of the country in which they are found.
Her lawyers also argued that the Philippines had long recognized the generally accepted principle of international law on foundlings. Citing DOJ Opinion Number
189, series of 1951, Poes camp said the DOJ recognized foundlings as citizens of the country in which they are found.
1986
December 13 After Poe turned 18 years old, she obtained a voters identification card at Greenhills, San Juan, but the name indicated was Ma. Gracia S. Poe.
1988
April 4 As a deemed natural born Filipino, she was issued a Philippine passport.
1991
July 27 She got married to husband Neil Llamanzares in the Philippines. Her husband is a dual citizen of the US and the Philippines since birth.
July 29 Then newlyweds Neil and Grace went to the US to start a family.
1992
April 16 Son Brian was born a US citizen in Washington, DC.
1993
April 5 Poe was issued a Philippine passport
1998
May 19 Poe was issued a Philippine passport. She went back to the Philippines to give birth to her second child.
July 10 She gave birth to second child Hanna in the Philippines.
2001
October 18 Poe was naturalized as a citizen of the US after being petitioned by her husband who is a dual citizen. As she took an oath of allegiance to the US,
she renounced her Philippine citizenship:
"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of
whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all
enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law;
that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under
civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."
The camp of Poe, however, said Poe took an oath of allegiance to the US only as a necessary condition for her naturalization.
After her naturalization, [Poe] maintained her ties to the Philippines and visited the country frequently. She never foreclosed the possibility of one day returning to
the Philippines, as indeed, she returned in 2005, stated in the verified reply.
2004
April 8 Then pregnant Poe went back to the Philippines with second daughter Hanna.
May 10 The 2004 presidential elections was held. Poes father FPJ ran and lost to then incumbent President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in what was widely
believed to be a rigged elections.
June 5 She gave birth to youngest child Anika in the Philippines.
July 8 She went back to the US with Hanna and Anika.
December 13 Upon hearing of the condition of her father, she went back to the Philippines and arrived on this date.
December 14 FPJ died.
From December 13 to February 3, 2005 Poe stayed in the Philippines to help arrange fathers funeral and settle his estate.
2005
February 3 She left the Philippines and went back to the US.
May 24 After deciding as a family, Poe returned to the Philippines while husband Neil stayed in the US to finish projects and arrange the sale of their US home.
June Her kids started attending Philippine schools.
July 7 Poe got her Philippine Taxpayers Identification Number (TIN) to settle her fathers estate.
SIGNED. This was signed by the Vice Consul on December 9, 2011 but US State Dept. 'approved' it on February 3, 2012. (Photo by Office of Sen. Grace Poe)
2012
February 3 The certificate of loss of nationality was approved by the State Department only in 2012.
Poe, in an interview on June 10, 2015, said: "Ngayon tungkol dun sa US, ni-release po nila ang aking renunciation 2012. Bakit? Sapagkat sila ay may prosesong
napakahaba. Hindi ka basta pupunta sa US embassy para mag-submit. Kailangan doon ang tax return mo doon in the last 5 years, ari-arian mo in the last 5
years. Ang daming dokumento.
(Now, about the US, they released my renunciation in 2012. Why? Because they have a long process. You cannot just go to US embassy to submit. The have to
look into your tax returns from the last 5 years, your properties in the last 5 years. There are many documents needed.)
October 2 Poe filed her Certificate of Candidacy (COC).
Petitioner David accused Poe of lying in her COC when she said she had been residing in the country for 6 years and 6 months as of May 13, 2013. With all the
arguments earlier discussed, Poes lawyers said this allegation is false, as Poe met the two-year residency requirement for a senator.
In a foreshadowing of what may be thrown at her in 2016, Poes lawyers, in the verified reply, argued that Poe made an honest mistake in her COC.
The truth is that, as of 13 May 2013, [Poe] had been residing in the Philippines for more than six (6) years and six (6) months." They said this mistake was an
"excusable error arising from complex legal principles that a layman is not expected to fully know, much less understand." They said Poe was not accompanied by
a legal counsel when she filled out the form.
They also argued that good faith is more manifested because Poe indicated a shorter period of stay in her COC, saying she would have benefitted more if she
indicated a longer period. This, they said, clearly shows that she honestly misunderstood what was being asked of her in her COC, and that she did not intend to
mislead or deceive anyone.
Her camp said it is not the first time a candidate committed an honest mistake in stating her period of residency in the COC.
The Supreme Court was faced with precisely this problem in Romualdez-Marcos vs. COMELEC. However, instead of making the candidate pay for her mistake by
disqualifying her, the Supreme Court stressed that the 'residency requirement' is ultimately a question of fact. The statement in the COC is not 'decisive.'
2013
May 16 Poe was proclaimed senator of the Philippines after topping the senatorial elections.
December 19 As a senator, she was issued a diplomatic passport.
2014
March 18 She was issued a regular Philippine passport.
2015
August 6 David filed a disqualification case against Poe before the Senate Electoral Tribunal.
August 17 David filed a similar case before the Commission on Elections.
September 1 Poe submitted her verified answer with supporting documents to the SET, with the following prayers:
1. Prayer for Summary Dismissal, as the petition is insufficient in form and substance, was filed beyond the prescribed period, and that David committed
2. Motion for Preliminary Hearing on Grounds for Immediate Dismissal / Affirmative Defenses
3. Motion to Cite Petitioner for Direct Contempt of Court for willful and deliberate forum shopping.
4. Counterclaim for Indirect Contempt of Court for failure to inform [SET] of the filing of his similar complaint with the Comelec Law Department.
Rappler.com