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Poe-Llamanzares vs Comelec

GR 221697
March 8, 2016
Facts: Mary Grace Natividad S. Poe-Llamanzares (petitioner) was found abandoned
as a newborn infant in the Parish Church of Jaro, Iloilo. At 5 years old Ronald Allan
Kelley Poe (a.k.a. Fernando Poe, Jr.) and Jesusa Sonora Poe (a.k.a. Susan Roces) filed
a petition for her adoption with the Municipal Trial Court (MTC) of San Juan City. In
1991 she married Teodoro Misael Daniel V. Llamanzares, a citizen of both the
Philippines and the US. She flew to the US to be with her Husband and subsequently
had children there. She was Naturalized as an American Citizen in 2001. Came back
to the Philippines in 2004 to help her father's candicacy, returned to the US and
rushed back later that year due to her father's illness and death, She headed back
to the US in Feb of 2005, and decided to permanently reside in the Philippines
thereafter. By 2006 she had reacquired her Philippine Citizenship and had relocated
her family to the philippines. She was a candidate in the 2013 elections for Senate
and won. Now she has filed her COC for Presidency for the May 2016 Elections. She
declared that she is a natural born citizen and that her residency upon Election
would be over 10 years.
ISSUE: WON petitioner is a natural born Filipino citizen.
Held: YES. Firstly, by law, the petitioner need not prove that she is a citizen, it is the
duty of those who assail her natural-born status to prove convincingly that she isn't.
Secondly, Petitioner in all likelihood, due to statistical probability, a natural-born
Filipino Citizen. 99.83% of people born between 1965-1975 is Filipino. And 99% of
the people residing in Iloilo at the time were Filipinos making the likelihood of the
petitioners parents Filipino as well to 99%. She was also abandoned in a Roman
Catholic Church, has typical Filipino Features, i.e height, flat nasal bridge, straight
black hair, almond shaped eyes and an oval face. By domestic and International
Law, Foundlings are citizens of the country they are found in. This is to avoid
discrimination against foundlings. Petition is dismissed.

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