Grace Poe vs COMELEC There is simply no authorized proceeding in determining the ineligibility of
(Case Digest: GR 221697, GR 221698-700 March 8, 2016) candidates before elections. Such lack of provision cannot be supplied by
Facts:
In her COC for presidency for the May 2016 elections, Grace Poe declared
that she is a natural-born citizen and that her residence in the Philippines
up to the day before 9 May 2016 would be 10 years and 11 months
counted from 24 May 2005.
May 24, 2005 was the day she came to the Philippines after deciding to
stay in the PH for good. Before that however, and even afterwards, she
has been going to and fro between US and Philippines. She was born in
1968, found as newborn infant in Iloilo, and was legally adopted. She
immigrated to the US in 1991 and was naturalized as American citizen in
2001. On July 18, 2006, the BI granted her petition declaring that she had
reacquired her Filipino citizenship under RA 9225. She registered as a
voter and obtained a new Philippine passport. In 2010, before assuming
her post as an appointed chairperson of the MTRCB, she renounced her
American citizenship to satisfy the RA 9225 requirement . From then on,
she stopped using her American passport.
Petitions were filed before the COMELEC to deny or cancel her candidacy
on the ground particularly, among others, that she cannot be considered a
natural-born Filipino citizen since she cannot prove that her biological
parents or either of them were Filipinos. The COMELEC en banc
cancelled her candidacy on the ground that she is in want of citizenship
and residence requirements, and that she committed material
misrepresentations in her COC.
On certiorari, the SC reversed the ruling and held (9-6 votes) that Poe is
qualified as a candidate for Presidency. Three justices, however, abstained
to vote on the natural-born citizenship issue.
Issue 1: W/N the COMELEC has jurisdiction to rule on the issue of
qualifications of candidates (Read Dissent)
Held:
No. Article IX-C, Sec 2 of the Constitution provides for the powers and
functions of the COMELEC, and deciding on the qualifications or lack
thereof of a candidate is not one among them.
In contrast, the Constitution provides that only the SET and HRET
tribunals have sole jurisdiction over the election contests, returns, and
qualifications of their respective members, whereas over the President and
Vice President, only the SC en banc has sole jurisdiction. As for the
qualifications of candidates for such positions, the Constitution is silent.
a mere rule, and for the COMELEC to assimilate grounds for ineligibility
into grounds for disqualification in Rule 25 in its rules of procedures would
be contrary to the intent of the Constitution.
Hence, the COMELEC committed grave abuse of discretion when it decided
on the qualification issue of Grace as a candidate in the same case for
cancellation of her COC.
Issue 2: W/N Grace Poe-Llamanzares is a natural-born Filipino citizen
(Read Dissent)
Held:
Yes, Grace Poe might be and is considerably a natural-born Filipino. For
that, she satisfies one of the constitutional requirements that only natural-
born Filipinos may run for presidency.
First, there is a high probability that Grace Poes parents are Filipinos. Her
physical features are typical of Filipinos. The fact that she was abandoned
as an infant in a municipality where the population of the Philippines is
overwhelmingly Filipinos such that there would be more than 99% chance
that a child born in such province is a Filipino is also a circumstantial
evidence of her parents nationality. That probability and the evidence on
which it is based are admissible under Rule 128, Section 4 of the Revised
Rules on Evidence. To assume otherwise is to accept the absurd, if not the
virtually impossible, as the norm.
Second, by votes of 7-5, the SC pronounced that foundlings are as
a class, natural-born citizens. This is based on the finding that the
deliberations of the 1934 Constitutional Convention show that the
framers intended foundlings to be covered by the enumeration.
While the 1935 Constitutions enumeration is silent as to
foundlings, there is no restrictive language which would definitely
exclude foundlings either. Because of silence and ambiguity in the
enumeration with respect to foundlings, the SC felt the need to
examine the intent of the framers.
Third, that foundlings are automatically conferred with natural-born
citizenship is supported by treaties and the general principles of
international law. Although the Philippines is not a signatory to some of
these treaties, it adheres to the customary rule to presume foundlings as
having born of the country in which the foundling is found.
Issue 3: W/N Grace Poe satisfies the 10-year residency requirement
Held:
Yes. Grace Poe satisfied the requirements of animus manendi coupled with
animus revertendi in acquiring a new domicile.
Grace Poes domicile had been timely changed as of May 24, 2005, and not
on July 18, 2006 when her application under RA 9225 was approved by the
BI. COMELECs reliance on cases which decree that an aliens stay in the
country cannot be counted unless she acquires a permanent resident visa
or reacquires her Filipino citizenship is without merit. Such cases are
different from the circumstances in this case, in which Grace Poe presented
an overwhelming evidence of her actual stay and intent to abandon
permanently her domicile in the US. Coupled with her eventual application
to reacquire Philippine citizenship and her familys actual continuous stay
in the Philippines over the years, it is clear that when Grace Poe returned
on May 24, 2005, it was for good.
Issue 4: W/N the Grace Poes candidacy should be denied or cancelled for
committing material misrepresentations in her COC
Held:
No. The COMELEC cannot cancel her COC on the ground that she
misrepresented facts as to her citizenship and residency because such
facts refer to grounds for ineligibility in which the COMELEC has no
jurisdiction to decide upon. Only when there is a prior authority finding
that a candidate is suffering from a disqualification provided by law or the
Constitution that the COMELEC may deny due course or cancel her
candidacy on ground of false representations regarding her qualifications.
In this case, by authority of the Supreme Court Grace Poe is now
pronounced qualified as a candidate for the presidency. Hence, there
cannot be any false representations in her COC regarding her citizenship
and residency.