Neophyte Eastern Samar lawmaker faces citizenship problems

From being “room-less,” this neophyte congressman now finds himself “stateless.”

Eastern Samar Rep. Teodulo Coquilla protested the “revocation” of his “re-acquired” Filipino citizenship by Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan, whose wife, Elda, incidentally lost to him by 7,000 votes in the May 14 congressional elections.

The former US Navy man first gained media prominence early this month when he complained that he had not been provided an office in the Batasan complex, although former Eastern Samar congressman Jose Tan Ramirez occupied a room.

Coquilla has since been assigned to Room 514 at the south wing of the Batasan complex. “I have been told that this office of Mr. Ramirez is used to promote his own religious fanaticism with the ingredients of cultist beliefs and satanic arrogance,” he said.

In a privilege speech late Monday, an irate Coquilla accused Libanan, his predecessor, of being behind the move of the Special Committee on Naturalization of the Office of the Solicitor General (SCN-OSG) to revoke the certificate of repatriation it issued to him in November 2000.

He raised his concern to the House leadership, particularly to his colleagues in the minority bloc, saying, “It could be replicated in some other way to thwart the will of the people.”

Coquilla said he became a naturalized US citizen in October 1970, or five years after he joined the US Navy for reasons of “economic necessity.”

He said he re-acquired his Filipino citizenship in November 2000 when he took an oath of allegiance before the SCN-OSG.

The certificate was proof that he has reclaimed his Filipino citizenship, restoring all his rights and privileges after renouncing his US citizenship, he said.

Coquilla alleged that the Libanans employed the “harassment strategy,” saying, “It would appear that Libanan could not accept ignominious defeat when I, completely an unknown political entity, handily trounced his wife.”