Facts:

Grace Poe was born on 3 September 1968 in Jaro, Iloilo. Being a foundling,
Poes biological parents are unknown to her. As stated in her Certificate of Live
Birth, she was found abandoned in the Parish of Jaro in Iloilo City, Philippines on 3
September 1968 by certain Mr. Edgardo Militar. On 6 September 1968, Mr. Emiliano
Militar reported to the Office of Civil Registrar of Iloilo City, the fact that she had
been found. The name Mary Grace Natividad Contreras Militar appears on her
Original Certificate of Live Birth.
Respondent was subsequently adopted by the spouses Ronald Allan Kelly Poe
(a.k.a. Fernando Poe, Jr.) and Jesusa Sonora Poe (a.k.a. Susan Roces). The Municipal
Court of San Juan, Rizal granted their petition for adoption in a decision dated 13
May 1974. The same decision legally changed her name to Mary Grace Natividad
Sonora Poe.
As a natural born citizen, he exercised rights and observed responsibilities
appurtenant to such citizenship. After respondent turned eighteen years old, she
applied for registration as a voter. On 13 December 1986, The Comelec issued in
her favor a Voters Identification Card for Precinct No. 196 in Greenhills, San Juan,
Metro Manila. Likewise, on 4 April 1988, 5 April 1993, 19 May 1998, 13 October
2009, and on 18 March 2014, the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines
issued Philippine passports in her favor, all uniformly stating that she is a citizen of
the Philippines. A Philippine diplomatic passport was likewise issued in her favor on
19 December 2013.
Respondent initially enrolled for college at the University of the Philippines.
However, in 1998, she transferred to the Boston College in Chestnut Hill,
Massachusetts, U.S.A. She graduated in 1991 with a degree a Bachelor of Arts in
Political Studies.
On 27 July 1991, she was married to Teodoro Misael Daniel V. Llamanares at
Sanctuario de San Jose Parish at San Juan City, Metro Manila. Her husband, who is a
citizen of both Philippines and the U.S.A. from birth, was at that time living in the
U.S.A. Having been born and raised a Filipina and with Filipino values, she chose to
be with her husband and to raise their children together. Thus, she followed her
husband to the U.S.A. on 29 July 1991 and the spouses decided to start a family
there.
She and her husband have three children. Their eldest child, Brian Daniel,
was born U.S.A. in 1992. Although they were living in the U.S.A. at that time, she
returned to the Philippines purposely to give birth to their second child, Hanna
MacKenzie in 1998, and to their third child Jesusa Anika in 2004.

Despite living in the U.S.A., she and her husband kept their Filipino ties and
had always intended to return to the Philippines. In fact, she and her family
frequently returned to the Philippines to visit relatives and friends.
On 18 October 2001, she was naturalized as a citizen of the U.S.A. In 2003,
Her father declared his candidacy for President of the Philippines in May 2004
elections. On December 2004, her father was admitted to St. Lukes Medical center
in Quezon City after he had complained of dizziness at a gathering in his production
studio. As soon as she was informed of her fathers condition, she prepared to leave
for the Philippines immediately. She arrived in the country on evening of 13
December 2004. Unfortunately, her father died the following day. As a result of the
untimely demise of her father, she resigned from her work and notified her children
that they would be transferring to the Philippines. And on 10 July 2006, she filed
with the Bureau of Immigration a sworn petition to reacquire her natural-born
Philippine citizen pursuant to R.A. No. 9225 and subsequently had taken her Oath of
Allegiance to the Republic of the Philippines. Upon advice, and simultaneous with
her own petition, she filed petitions for derivative citizenship on behalf of her there
children who were all below eighteen years at that time which later became also
citizens of the Philippines.
On 31 August 2006, she registered as a voter at Barangay Santa Lucia, San
Juan City. On 6 October 2010, President Benigno Aquino III appointed hr as
Chairperson of the MTRCB, a post which requires natural-born Filipino citizenship.
And on 21 October 2010, in accordance with P.D. No. 1986 and Section 5 of R.A. No.
9225, she took her oath of office as chairperson of the MTRCB before the President.
To ensure that even under the laws of the USA, she would no longer be considered
its citizen, she likewise renounced her USA citizenship following the laws of that
country.
On 27 September 2012, she accomplished her Certificate of Candidacy for
Senator. Section 12 of the COC was, again, an affirmation of the Oath of Allegiance
which she had taken 7 july 2006. On 2 October 2012, she filed her COC with the
Comelec. During the 13 May 2013 national elections, she ran for and elected as a
Senator of the Republic of the Philippines. From her proclamation until 5 August
2015, no petition to disqualify, quo warranto, or any similar action questioning her
eligibility or qualifications as a Senator of the Philippines, had been filed against her.
In the upcoming 2016 National Elections, she expressed her interest to run
for the position of President. However, his candidacy was opposed by her rivals for
the post.

Opposition:

Citizenship qualifications of Senator Grace Poe to run for, be elected to and hold a
higher public office are criticized.
1.) As a foundling, she was stateless;
2.) By her marriage, she acquired the American citizenship of her husband;
3.) Her adoption by Fernando Poe Jr. and Susan Roces did not confer natural-born
citizenship on her;

Natural-born citizen, under our 1987 Constitution, no person may be elected

President or Vice-President or Senator or Congressman unless he or she is a naturalborn citizen of the Philippines. In turn, natural-born citizens are those who are
citizens of the Philippines from birth without having to perform any act to acquire or
perfect their Philippine citizenship. Since the Constitution requires natural-born
citizenship from birth and since Senator Poe was born in 1968, the governing law
would be the 1935 Constitution. Neither that Charter nor any statute as of that year
expressly conferred citizenship on foundlings. However, the framers of the 1935
Constitution explained that expressly providing citizenship rules for foundlings was
unnecessary since that could be determined from international law. Under the same
Charter (and also under the present one), the Philippines adopts the generally
accepted principles of international law as part of the law of the Nation.
Applicability of International Law
In the case of Mijares vs. Ranada (April 12, 2005), it held that generally
accepted principles of international law even if they are not derived from treaty
obligations have two elements: the established, widespread and consistent practice
on the part of states; and a psychological element known as the opinio juris sive
necessitates (opinion as to law or necessity) a belief that the practice in question is
rendered obligatory by the existence of a rule of law requiring it.
Under Article 2 of the 1961 International Convention on Statelessness, a
foundling found in the territory of a Contracting State shall, in the absence of proof
to the contrary, be considered to have been born within the territory of parents
possessing the nationality of that State.
Applying that article to Senator Poe, a foundling found in the Philippines is
presumed, in the absence of contrary proof, to have Filipino biological parents. Since
she was found near a church in Jaro, Iloilo, when she was only a few days old, her
parents are presumed to be Filipinos. Therefore, she is a natural-born citizen. Verily,
the Philippines is not a signatory or a Contracting State in this treaty. However,
the treaty possesses the two elements of a generally accepted principle of

international law because the grant of nationality to a foundling is an established,

widespread and consistent practice of many states since 1961 to the present.
Hence, it is deemed a part of the law of the Nation.
According to Razon vs Taglis (Dec. 3, 2009), this widespread practice or
international custom could be shown from State practice, State legislation,
international and national judicial decisions, recitals in treaties and other
international instruments, a pattern of treaties in the same form, the practice of
international organs, and resolutions relating to legal questions in the UN General
Assembly.Further, under the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR),
to which the Philippines is a signatory and which our Supreme Court has
consistently enforced, Everyone has a right to a nationality. Thus, a denial of
nationality or citizenship to Senator Poe would be a plain violation of the UDHR.
Parenthetically, it is high time the Philippines acceded to and joined the 1961
Convention on Statelessness for the benefit of all Filipinos, especially illegitimate
children whose parents are unknown, not just of Senator Poe. After all, it is not their
fault that their parents have abandoned them.
American citizenship and adoption
It is undisputed that she acquired American citizenship after she married her
American husband. But she already renounced such citizenship in accordance with
American law. And the American Embassy has affirmed such renunciation. This
affirmation is important because under the 1930 Hague Convention on the Conflict
of Nationality Laws, it is for each State to determine under its own law who are its
nationals. Thus, American, not Philippine law determines who are American
citizens. Moreover, our Supreme Court has ruled several times that adoption does
not confer citizenship. It only gives the adopted child the civil rights of a legitimate
child, like the right to use the surname of and to inherit from the adoptive parents.
In my opinion, these rulings do not apply to foundlings. They were issued by
our Court to prevent aliens from short-circuiting our strict naturalization rules by
undergoing the easier adult adoption processes. However, I will no longer dwell on
this issue because Senator Poe does not derive her natural-born citizenship from her
adoption but from generally accepted principles of international law on the
presumed citizenship of foundlings. Her presumed citizenship can become
indisputable if her paternity is established by deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) evidence.
Under existing jurisprudence starting with Tijing vs Court of Appeals (March 8, 2001)
and People vs Vallejo (May 2, 2002), a DNA test is a conclusive way of proving
filiations.

Conclusion:

Senator Grace Poe is qualified to run for President of the Republic of the
Philippines.
The contention that she was a foundling was born stateless. The law does not
support this theory. Indeed, Section 1, Article IV of the 1935 Constitution does not
expressly mention foundlings whose parents, by definition, are unknown. However,
the deliberations of the framers of the 1935 constitution may be resorted to in order
to discern their intent in not including in the organic law, a specific provision
governing the citizenship of foundlings and the reason therefore.
In Nitafan vs. Commissioner, the SC ruled:
The ascertainment of that intent is but in keeping with the fundamental
principle of constitutional construction that the intent of the framers of the organic
law and the people adopting it should be given effect. The primary task in
constitutional construction is to ascertain and thereafter assure the realization of
the purpose of the framers and of the people in the adoption of the Constitution. It
may also be safely assumed that the people in ratifying the Constitution were
guided mainly the explanation offered by the framers.
The pertinent deliberations of the 1934 Constitutional Convention, on what
eventually became Article IV of the 1935 Constitution; show that the intent of the
framers was not to exclude foundlings from the term citizens of the Philippines.
According to them, by international law the principle that children or people born in
a country unknown parents are citizens in this nation is recognized, and it was
necessary to include a provision on the subject exhaustively.
Consistent with the intent of the framers of the 1935 Constitution, and has
discussed in detail below, under both conventional and customary international law,
in relation to the definition of a natural-born Philippine citizen under Section 2,
Article IV of the 1987 Constitution, a child born in the Philippines in 1968, of
unknown parents, is a natural born Filipino, because:
a.) She has a right to a nationality from birth which cannot be a nationality other
than that of a Filipino
b.) She has a right to be protected against statelessness
c.) She is presumed to be citizen of the country in which she is found
d.) She does not have to perform any act to acquire or perfect her Filipino
citizenship. She is not a naturalized Filipino and is. Perforce, a natural-born citizen of
the Philippines