Lawyer insists Poe a natural-born citizen

MANILA, Philippines - The camp of Sen. Grace Poe yesterday insisted she is a natural-born Filipino citizen qualified for a national elective post despite being a foundling.

George Garcia, Poe’s lawyer, invoked the principle of international law that considers a foundling a national of the country where he or she was born.

Garcia disputed the opinion of Senior Associate Justice and Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) chairman Antonio Carpio during the oral arguments on the disqualification case against Poe that the senator, being a foundling, is a naturalised and not a natural-born citizen and therefore not qualified for an electoral post unless she proves that her biological parents are Filipinos.

Garcia said the legal presumption that foundlings are natural-born is the reason Poe need not go through the process of naturalization.

“There are only two types of citizens, natural-born or naturalized. If Senator Poe is not a foreigner who became a naturalized Filipino citizen, therefore she is natural-born,” Garcia said.

He added that under Philippine laws, a naturalized citizen would “always mean to be a former foreigner.”

In the case of Poe, Garcia said the senator did not apply for Philippine citizenship.

“It is the presumption of law, the Constitution and international convention and treaties that made her a natural-born citizen of the country,” he said.

He said natural-born citizens are those who do not need to perform any act to acquire or perfect their citizenship.

“Did Senator Poe perform any act? Did she apply for anything? Did she apply or petition that she can become a natural-born? Of course, the answer to these questions is no,” Garcia said.

Initial reaction

Garcia expressed hope Carpio’s statement does not reflect the sentiment of the entire SET.

“Perhaps, this is just an initial reaction based on an initial interpretation of law. We are hoping to fully convince him (Carpio) to change his interpretation of the law by showing to him that at least Sen. Grace Poe is not really a naturalized but a natural-born citizen,” Garcia said.

He said Poe’s legal team remains confident in the integrity and independence of the SET chairman despite his “erroneous interpretation of the law.”

“With all due respect, without preempting and at the same time we will not be accused of being sub judice, we honestly believe that it is

an erroneous interpretation because naturalized citizen would always mean to be a former foreigner,” Garcia said.

He said the 1987 Constitution, international law and domestic laws favor protecting foundlings.

“The presumption prevails unless proof to the contrary is presented. Under Rule 31 of the Rules of Court, whoever alleges must prove,” he said.

No proof

Garcia also noted that during Monday’s oral arguments, petitioner Lito David’s lawyer Manuel Luna admitted they have no evidence to prove that Poe’s parents are foreigners.

“We maintain that it is not the respondent but the petitioner who should present proof that the senator is not a natural-born Filipino because her parents were allegedly foreigners,” he added.

Garcia said it was not accurate to say that the burden of proof shifted to Poe when the petitioner has failed to prove any evidence to substantiate his claim.

He said they have presented enough documentary evidence to prove Poe is a natural-born citizen, including her birth certificate, adoption papers, Comelec ID, an order from the Bureau of Immigration granting her petition for dual citizenship and that of her three children and supporting documents on her renunciation of American citizenship.

“We are confident we have presented sufficient evidence to warrant the dismissal of the petition,” Garcia said.

Under the 1987 Constitution, only natural-born Filipino citizens are qualified to run for president, vice-president, senator and congressman.  

Inhibit from Poe’s case

As this developed, Carpio was urged yesterday to inhibit from the case of Poe.

“He should inhibit himself out of decency because his umbilical cord is still tied to Nonong (Avelino) Cruz, who is the lawyer of (Liberal Party standard-bearer) Mar Roxas,” Rep. Silvestre Bello lll of party-list group 1-BAP told a news conference.

“His vote on the case of Sen. Grace in the Senate Electoral Tribunal will be suspect,” Bello, who has expressed his support for Poe, said.

Carpio and Cruz are former partners in a law office whose clients included detained former President and now  Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her husband.

Arroyo appointed Carpio to the SC in 2001. Cruz, on the other hand, was Arroyo’s defense secretary.

Reminded that Carpio has long severed his ties with his former law office and he and Roxas are not parties in Poe’s SET case, Bello said, “Justice Carpio cannot deny his connection to the law firm of Nonong Cruz.”

Asked if his appeal is also addressed to Sen. Vicente Sotto lll, a member of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) and a Poe supporter who sits in the SET, the party-list lawmaker said it was not.

“The senators sitting in the tribunal represent political parties, unlike the three justices in the SET who are expected to be impartial,” Bello said.

The other senator-members of the tribunal are Loren Legarda, Nancy Binay, Pia Cayetano, Cynthia Villar and Paolo Benigno Aquino IV.

Like Sotto, Legarda is a member of NPC, while Cayetano and Villar belong to the Nacionalista Party. Aquino is part of the ruling Liberal Party.

The other two justices in the tribunal are Arturo Brion and Teresita de Castro.

Objective

But leaders of the House of Representatives opposed calls for Carpio to inhibit.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said he knows Carpio to be fair and objective despite his past connections in the private legal practice. 

“I know and trust Justice Carpio as a man of intelligence,” Belmonte said. 

Deputy Speaker and Isabela Rep. Giorgidi Aggabao said he considers Carpio as one of the best SC magistrates. 

He, however, said he was puzzled by the turn of events in the SET where the burden of proving her citizenship was apparently transferred to Poe from David. 

Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, leader of the independent bloc, said Carpio’s statement “is just one of the diverse opinions in the SET.”

SC to decide

Senate President Franklin Drilon said the question on Poe’s citizenship is a legal issue that only the SC can resolve with finality.

“It is very crucial for the SET to be able to come up with a decision at the earliest time possible, in order to give the high court sufficient time to hear the case and render a verdict before the election period kicks off,” Drilon said. 

He noted only four out of the nine members of the SET are lawyers, referring to De Castro, Carpio, Brion and Cayetano. 

“The matter that is before the tribunal involves the interpretation and application of the provisions of the Constitution, RA 9225, commonly known as the Dual Citizenship Act, and other pertinent laws concerning citizenship on an undisputed set of facts,” he said.

He expressed hope the SET would act on the case with urgency, considering the scheduled filing of the certificate of candidacy by October, and the printing of official ballots by January 2015. 

Disadvantageous

Election lawyer Romulo Macalintal said Carpio’s “theory” is disadvantageous to other foundlings.

“Thousands of birth records of foundlings or those children under the care of governmental agencies who were abandoned by their parents have to be corrected to reflect their status as ‘naturalized Filipinos’,” Macalintal said in a statement. 

“The irony of it is that the Constitution says they (foundlings) should have more in law as they have less in life and yet interpreters of the laws want to deprive them of such lawful right,” he said.

Meanwhile, Sen. Francis Escudero challenged David to prove that Poe is not a Filipino. 

“He who alleges must prove the same. Does attorney David have evidence to show that Grace is not a Filipino? If David says Grace is not a Filipino, he should prove that Grace is a foreigner,” Escudero said.

“Based on the laws, a foundling is a presumed citizen of the country where he or she was found. That presumption has not been overtaken,” he added. 

Escudero also expressed belief that Poe’s decision to undergo DNA match would also bolster their defense that Poe is a natural-born Filipino.

“The DNA testing will simply be confirmatory. The fact remains that she is a citizen. And because she did not perform any act through an act Congress or a degree of the court, she is natural-born and not naturalized,” he said. 

Grinning ear-to-ear

Aggabao, NPC president, said many party members are “grinning ear-to-ear” over the latest results of the Social Weather Stations survey showing Poe remained as the most preferred candidate for president and vice president. 

“It was effortless for her to be No. 1,” Aggabao said, noting the poll was taken before Poe announced she is running for president.

Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr. said the citizenship issue raised against Poe would be to her advantage.– Edu Punay, Jess Diaz, Sheila Crisostomo, Paolo Romero,  Christina Mendez