Cortes camp tags Jonkie as traitor

The camp of Engineer Zoilo Cortes had described Mandaue City mayoralty candidate Thadeo Jovito "Jonkie" Ouano a traitor for lack of fidelity to a country.

This was contained in the Cortes'' position paper submitted yesterday during the hearing at the Comelec regional office of the petition to disqualify Jonkie as a candidate.

Engineer Cortes is an uncle of acting city mayor Jonas Cortes, who is now running against Jonkie for the mayoralty post. Besides his petition to disqualify Jonkie, he also asked for P2 million in damages against the young Ouano.

Cortes'' lawyer, Briccio Joseph Boholst, said that when one lacks fidelity to a country he is labeled a traitor, and Jonkie allegedly became traitor not once but twice.

"When he was a Filipino, he betrayed the Philippines by pledging allegiance to the United States of America. He did it again to the US when he sought to reacquire and pledge allegiance to the Philippines," Boholst contended.

"Such kind of apparent lack of sense of loyalty must be dealt with more harshly," argued Boholst in the paper it submitted to the Comelec.

Boholst quoted former senator Teofisto Guingona that dual allegiance is not necessarily dual citizenship, as the first is fidelity to the state, the second is membership.

"When a Filipino becomes naturalized in another country, he becomes a member of the new country of his choice. He now owes allegiance to the same, and no longer has obligations of fidelity to the Philippines," Boholst argued.

While Jonkie may not have dual citizenship status now, after renouncing his allegiance to the US, he is facing a more pressing concern: His failure to fully reacquire his civil and political rights as a Filipino, said Boholst.

Boholst added: "The renunciation of his (Jonkie) US nationality before the Consular Officer of the US Embassy of Manila is of no moment. it is not the knd of renunciation that is contemplated by the law."

The lawyer added that this means Jonkie lacks Philippine citizenship so he asked the Comelec to declare Jonkie "ineligible for the position (mayor)...and to cancel his certificate of candidacy."

Boholst said that the Voters Registration Act of l996 states that only citizens of the Philippines are allowed to exercise the right of suffrage, or that only Filipinos can vote.

In the case of Jonkie, however, Boholst said that on June 20, 2006, when Jonkie applied for and registered as a voter in Mandaue, he was still an American. The loss of Jonkie''s US nationality was accomplished only on June 21, 2006 when the US State Department approved it.

So, as of the date of the registration of Jonkie as a voter for Mandaue City, he has not yet recovered his right of suffrage, Cortes'' lawyer contended.

Boholst then asked Comelec to order the boards of election inspectors and canvassers of the city not to count any vote cast for Jonkie.

Lawyer Mario Ortiz, who is representing Jonkie, said he will also submit a position paper within 72 hours but questioned the intention of the camp of Jonas Cortes in filing the petition to disqualify Jonkie.

Together with lawyer Ortiz, former city mayor Pedong Ouano also represented his grandson Jonkie in fighting off the Cortes petition in the Comelec. Jonkie''s father, Mayor Thadeo Ouano came late for the scheduled hearing of the Cortes petition in the Comelec.

The mayor was however optimistic that the Comelec will decide in their favor. "Nag-andam na gyud mi ani kay nahitabo na ni nako nga gipa-disqualify sab ko tungod sa problema sa residency. Na-rattle na man tingale na sila," he said.

Ortiz, for his part, agreed that the Comelec would favor them on the grounds that the petitioner has not even presented its evidences in its position paper.

Jonkie, in an earlier interview, was himself optimistic saying that the disqualification move has no basis because he already renounced his American citizenship on April 28, 2006 at the US Embassy in Manila.

Comelec regional attorney Leonel Mark Castillano presided the initial hearing of the petition yesterday. He is expected to submit this week the petition and the positions of the contending parties to the legal department of Comelec-central office for resolution.

The case is expected to be resolved before the May 14 election, said Castillano. - Jose P. Sollano and Ramil V. Ayuman/RAE