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On citizenship
COMELEC declared that Poe made false representation when she declared
that she was natural-born citizen of the Philippines. According to the
resolution of COMELEC, petitioner was not able to prove her blood
relationship to a Filipino parent and her failure precluded her from claiming
the status of natural-born citizen under 1935 Constitution. Chief Justice
Sereno disagreed to the decision of the COMELEC.
Petitioner did not make false material representation
citizenship in 2016 Certificate of Candidacy
regarding her
faulted for relying on the contents of her birth certificate. In fact, she is
obliged to rely on it because the law does not provide her with any other
reference for information regarding her parentage. It must be noted that the
records evidencing her foundling status has already been sealed after
issuance of adoption decree. The fact that the amended birth certificate was
without any notation should not be taken against the petitioner since it
merely complies with the confidentiality rule in adoption decree.
C. Voters ID
This also proves petitioners good faith. Because of all the entries made in
Voters ID, petitioner could not be expected to claim any citizenship other
than that of the Philippines.
D. Philippine Passport
The passport should be issued to any Filipino citizen who complies with
the requirements. The Philippine Passport Act states that no passport shall be
issued unless the Secretary is satisfied that applicant is a Filipino citizen.
Petitioner, holder of Philippine passport, is presumed to be Filipino citizen, in
view of the presumption of regularity accorded to acts of public officials in the
course of their duties. If the citizenship is doubtful, only travel document is
issued. If the State considers foundling not to be citizens, it would not have
given them passport. However, DFAs website show a list of requirements that
a foundling should present to get a valid passport. This only means that
foundlings are considered by the State, or at least by the executive, to be
Filipino citizens.
E. Bureau of Immigration Order
The findings of Bureau of Immigration on citizenship of petitioner is not
conclusive on the COMELEC. However, such negate notion of bad faith when
petitioner made representation in her CoC that she was natural-born citizen.
At the time of filing, the presumption created by the Order was in operation.
It has been argued that petitioner only obtained the order because she
misrepresented herself to be born of Ronald Allan and Jesusa Poe. However,
writing of the names of adoptive parents as indicated in birth certificate was
justified by the confidentiality rule in adoption proceeding.
F. Senate Electoral Tribunal Decision
The SET Decision is a prima facie finding that petitioner can rely on. The
fact that the decision was issued later than the filing of CoC does not take
away its validity as basis of petitioner in saying that she is natural-born. The
decision of SET was the determination of petitioners citizenship status as of
the time she was elected as senator. Although the filing of CoC came first, the
application of the ruling of SET predates the filing of CoC for president.
Legal Significance of Confirmation of Renunciation
It was contended that petitioners repatriation as Filipino citizen under RA
9225 was doubtful because of her subsequent acts in 2011 such as execution
of Oath of Renunciation of Nationality of United States, completion of
Questionnaire on Information for Determining Possible Loss of U.S Citizenship,
this, the term child includes foundlings. These laws are important because
they effectively recognize foundling as citizens of the Philippines.
In the case of Spouses Ellis v Republic, the Court held that it has the
power to determine citizenship of a foundling based on presumption and that
it has jurisdiction over adoption case of a baby born in the Philippines, the
baby being citizen of Philippines, in view of the theory that jurisdiction over
the status of natural person is determined by nationality. The 1976 case of
Duncan v CFI of Rizal also presumed that foundlings are Filipino citizen for
purposes of adoption.
The enactments and decisions prove the contemporaneous interpretation
of the Constitution by the three branches of the government. It is evident that
all branches presumed that these children are Filipino citizens in the absence
of contrary evidence. Presumptions are used by the Court to resolve issues on
citizenship. In the case of Board of Commissioners v Dela Rosa, the Court
used presumption of citizenship on basis of Bureau of Immigration Order. In
the case of Tecson v COMELEC, the Court used the presumption that the
grandfather of Fernando Poe, Jr. was a Filipino citizen, being part of en masse
Filipinization. The citizenship would extend to Allan Poe which also extend to
Fernando Poe.
It is reasonable to presume that petitioner is Filipino citizen since she was
abandoned in Iloilo at a time when number of children born to foreigners was
small fraction of total children born. Absence contrary evidence, the
presumption stands.
The Place of Probability in the Rule of Law
The rules on evidence is a means by which uniformity is instituted in
judicial system. These rules govern the means of ascertaining truth
respecting matter of fact. However, this does not entail absolute certainty.
Judges are not precluded from drawing conclusions from inferences based on
established facts. Jurisprudence is filled with cases decided on basis of
probability. As a rule, administrative or quasi-judicial bodies are not bound by
technical rules of procedure but this does not warrant evidentiary rules to be
disregarded. In this case, COMELEC refused to consider pieces of evidence
that tends to establish the probability of a fact in issue.
First, it is admitted that petitioner has typical Filipino features like brown
eyes, low nasal bridge, black hair, oval- shaped face, and height. This by itself
does not show belief as to her definite citizenship, but coupled with other
evidence, such as abandonment in Iloilo in 1968 when there were no
international airports in Iloilo, establishes probability that she was born of
Filipino parents. This probability is supported by statistics that 99.03% were
born to Filipino parents while 0.07% to foreigners in the Philippines. Election
cases requires preponderance of evidence so it can reasonably concluded
that petitioner has fulfilled all requirements of citizenship.
Petitioner may be considered natural-born citizen under 1935 Constitution