Mary Grace Natividad S. Poe-Llamanzares v.

COMELEC, et al
G.R. No. 221697 & G.R. No. 221698-700
March 8, 2016
FACTS:
Grace Poe was found abandoned as a newborn infant in the Parish Church of Jaro,
Iloilo by Edgardo Militar in 1968. Parental care and custody over her was passed on by
Edgardo to his relatives, Emiliano Militar and his wife. Then, Emiliano reported and
registered Grace Poe as a foundling with the Office of the Civil Registrar of Iloilo
City. The child was named Mary Grace Natividad Contreras Militar. Subsequently, she
was adopted by spouses Fernando Poe, Jr. and Susan Roces sometime in 1974.
Necessary annotations were placed in the childs foundling certificate.
At the age of 18, Poe was registered as a voter of San Juan. In 1988, she was issued a
Philippine Passport. In 1991, Poe married Teodoro Llamanzares. Thereafter, she flew to
the U.S. She then gave birth to her eldest child in the US. In 2001, Poe became a
naturalized American citizen and she obtained a US Passport that same year. In April
2004, Poe came back to the Philippines in order to support her fathers candidacy.
Afterwards, she returned to U.S. in July 2004. However, Poe returned in the Philippines
on December 2004 after learning of her fathers deteriorating condition. The latter died
and Poe stayed until February 2005 to take care of the funeral arrangements. Because
she wanted to be with her grieving mother, she and her husband decided to move and
reside permanently in the Philippines sometime in the first quarter of 2005. They
prepared
For resettlement including notification of their childrens schools, coordination with
property movers and inquiry with Philippine authorities as to how they can bring their pet
dog.
Poe came home on May 24, 2005 and immediately secured a TIN while her husband
stayed in the U.S. Poe and her children stayed with her mother until she and her
husband was able to purchase a condominium in San Juan sometime in February
2006. On February 14, 2006, Poe returned to the U.S. to dispose other family
belongings. She travelled back in March 2006. In early 2006, Poe and her husband
acquired a property in Corinthian Hills in Quezon City where they built their family home.
On July 7, 2006, Poe took her Oath of Allegiance to the Republic of the Philippines
pursuant to R.A.9225. On July 10, 2006, she filed a sworn petition to reacquire
Philippine citizenship together with petitions for derivative citizenship on behalf of her
three children. The Bureau of Immigration acted in favor of the petition on July 18,
2006. She and her children were then considered dual citizens. Poe then registered as
voter in August 2006 and secured a Philippine passport thereafter.
On October 6, 2010, she was appointed as Chairperson of the MTRCB. Before
assuming her post, she executed an Affidavit of Renunciation of Allegiance to the US
before a notary public in Pasig City on October 20, 2010. The following day, she
submitted the Affidavit to the Bureau of Immigration and took her oath as MTRCB

Chairperson. On July 12, 2011, Poe executed an Oath/Affirmation of Renunciation of

Nationality of the U.S. before the Vice Consul of the U.S. Embassy in Manila and on
December 9, 2011, the same issued a Certificate of Loss of Nationality of the
US effective October 21, 2010.
On October 2, 2012, Poe filed with COMELEC her Certificate of Candidacy for Senator
stating that she was a resident of the Philippines for a period of 6 years and 6 months
before May 13, 2013. Having the highest number of votes, she was proclaimed a
Senator on May 16, 2013.Then on October 15, 2015, Poe filed her COC for
the Presidency for the May 2016 elections. She declared that she is a natural born
citizen and her residency in the Philippines would be 10 years and 11 months counted
from May 24, 2005 up to the day before election.
In filing her COC for President, several petitions were filed against Poe. Estrella
Elamaparo alleged that, first, Poe committed material misrepresentation in her COC
when she stated that she is a resident of the Philippines for at least 10 years 11 months
up to the day before May 9, 2016 Elections. Second, that Poe is not natural born
considering that she is a foundling. It was argued that international law does not confer
natural born status and Filipino citizenship to foundlings hence, she is not qualified to
apply for reacquisition of Filipino citizenship under R.A.9225 as she is not a natural
citizen to begin with. Assuming that Poe was a natural born citizen, she lost it when she
became a US Citizen. Similarly, Francisco Tatad theorized that, first, Philippines adhere
to the principle of jus sanguinis, and hence, persons of unknown parentage, particularly
foundlings, are not natural born Filipino citizens. Second, using statutory construction,
considering that foundlings were not expressly included in the categories of citizens in
the 1935 Constitution, the framers are said to have the intention to exclude them.
Third, international conventions are not self-executory and so local legislations are
necessary to give effect to obligations assumed by the Philippines. Fourth, there is no
standard practice that automatically confers natural born status to foundlings. In the
same way, Amado Valdez alleged that Poes repatriation under R.A 9225 did not bestow
upon her the status of a natural born citizen as those who repatriates only acquires
Philippine citizenship and not their original status as natural born citizens.
On the contrary, Poe countered these petitions by alleging that the grounds invoked by
the petitioners were not proper grounds for a disqualification case as enumerated under
Section 12 and 68 of the Omnibus Election Code. Also, what the petitioners filed focus
on establishing her ineligibility, consequently, they fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of
the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, not the COMELEC. In addition, the Order of the
Bureau of Immigration declaring her as natural born, her appointment as MTRCB Chair
and the issuance of the decree of adoption reinforced her position as a natural born
citizen. Moreover, as early as first quarter of 2005, she started to reestablish her
domicile in the Philippines and that she can reestablish her domicile of choice even
before she renounced her American citizenship. Furthermore, the period of residency as
stated in her COC for senator was a mistake in good faith.

COMELEC ruled against Poe resolving that she is not a natural born citizen and that
she failed to complete the 10 year residency requirement. For this reason, she filed the
present petition for certiorari before the Supreme Court.
ISSUES:
1. Whether or not the COMELEC has jurisdiction to rule on the issue of
qualifications of candidates
2. Whether or not Petitioner Mary Grace Poe-Llamanzares is a natural-born Filipino
citizen?
3. Whether or not she satisfies the 10-year residency requirement?
4. Whether or not she is qualified to be a candidate for President in the National
and Local Elections of May 9, 2016?
HELD:
1. No. According to Sec. 2 of Article IX-C of the Constitution which 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 Senate Electoral Tribunal and House of Representatives
Electoral Tribunals have sole jurisdiction over the election contests, returns, and
qualifications of their respective members, whereas over the President and Vice
President, only the Supreme Court En Banc has sole jurisdiction. As for the
qualifications of candidates for such positions, the Constitution is silent. There is
simply no authorized proceeding in determining the ineligibility of candidates
before elections. Such lack of provision cannot be supplied by 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. Thus, 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.
2. Yes, Grace Poe is a natural born Filipino citizen. Based on circumstantial
evidence, there is a high probability that her parents are Filipinos. The Solicitor
General offered official Statistics from the Philippine Statistics office that from
1965 to 1975, the total number of foreigners born in the Philippines was 15,985.
While the Filipinos born in the country were more than 10 million. On this basis,
there is a 99% chance that the child born in the Philippines would be a Filipino
which in turn, would indicate more than ample probability that Poes parents are
Filipinos. That probability and the evidence on which it is based are admissible
under Rule 128, Section 4 of the Revised Rules on Evidence. Moreover, other
circumstantial evidence of the nationality of Poes parents are the fact that she
was abandoned in a Roman Catholic Church in Iloilo and she has typical Filipino
features. Supreme Court 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.
The amendment to the Constitution proposed by constitutionalist Rafols to
include foundlings as natural born citizens was not carried out, not because there
was any objection to the notion that persons of unknown parentage are not
citizens, but only because their number was not enough to merit specific
mention. There was no intent or language that would permit discrimination
against foundlings. On the contrary, all three Constitutions guarantee the basic
right to equal protection of the laws. Likewise, domestic laws on adoption support
the principle that foundlings are Filipinos. These laws do not provide that
adoption confers citizenship upon the adoptee, rather, the adoptee must be
Filipino in the first place to be adopted. Recent legislation all expressly refer to
Filipino children and include foundlings as among Filipino children who may be
adopted. Furthermore, foundlings are automatically conferred with natural-born
citizenship is supported by treaties and the general principles of international law.
The common thread of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the
Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Convent on Civil and
Political Rights obligates the Philippines to grant nationality from birth and to
ensure that no child is stateless. The principles stated in the Hague Convention
on Certain Questions Relation to the Conflict of Nationality laws that a foundling
is presumed to have the nationality of the country of birth. Also, the Convention
on the Reduction of Statelessness that foundling is presumed born of citizens of
the country where he is found. These bound the Philippines although we are not
signatory to these conventions.
3. Yes, Grace Poe satisfied the requirement of 10-year residency. Poe alleged that
her residency should be counted from May 24, 2005 when she returned for good
from the US. The three requisites to acquire a new domicile are the following:
first, residence or bodily presence in a new locality. Second, Intention to remain
(animus manendi). Third, intention to abandon the old domicile (animus nonrevertendi). The purpose to remain in or at the domicile of choice must be for an
indefinite period of time, the change of residence must be voluntary and the
residence at the place chosen for the new domicile must be actual. Her 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 Bureau of Immigration. In this
case, Poe clearly presented an overwhelming evidence to abandon permanently
her domicile in the U.S. 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 Poe returned on May 24, 2005, her intention was to
remain for good.
4. Yes, Grace Poe is qualified to be a candidate for President in the National and
Local Elections since she was able to satisfy the constitutional requirements for
presidency. She was found eligible for candidacy due to the ruling that foundlings
are presumed under international law to have been born of citizens of the place

where they are found. Also, she reacquired her natural-born Philippine citizenship
under the provisions of R.A. No. 9225.
Submitted to:
Atty. Edwin Yan

Prepared by:
Alexis Anne P. Arejola, JD 4104