31 Aug 2016, 10:06 a.m.

The Grace Poe Case Simplified

A further digest of another digest by Vena V.
Verga, presented in a way laymen would
better understand. It is for you to be informed
of what netizens are raging about.

GRACE POE vs. COMELEC

The Case
· 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. Emiliano reported and registered
Grace Poe as a foundling with the Office of
the Civil Registrar of Iloilo City. Fenando Poe,
Jr. and Susan Roces adopted Grace Poe.
· 1991 – Poe went to the US to be a
permanent resident therein
· 2001 – She became a naturalized US
citizen
· First quarter of 2005 – she came back
to the Philippines to permanently reside
herein
· February 14, 2006- she went back to the
US to dispose family belongings
· July 18, 2006 – she re-acquired Filipino
citizenship
· According to Poe in her 2013 COC for
Senator, before the May 13, 2013 election,
she has been a resident of the Philippines for
6 years and 6 months (reckoned from year
2006 when she re-acquired her Filipino
citizenship under RA 9225).
· Poe filed her COC for Presidency for the
May 9, 2016 elections (hence, computing
from May, 2013, she has been a resident in
the Philippines for 9 years and 6 months
only)
· However, in her COC, Poe declared that
she is a natural born and her residence in the
Philippine up to the day before election would
be 10 years and 11 months counted from
May 24, 2005 (when she returned from the
US to the Philippines for good).

RULING OF THE SUPREME COURT

Poe is qualified to be a candidate for
President in the National and Local Election
on May 9, 2016.

1) Is Poe, a foundling, a natural-born

citizen? Yes, based on:
a) Circumstantial evidence
b) Legislation
c) Generally accepted principles of
international law

Circumstantial evidence
There is more than sufficient evidence that
Poe has Filipino parents and is therefore a
natural-born Filipino. xxx. [T]here 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
Poe’s parents are Filipinos.

Other circumstantial evidence of the

nationality of Poe’s parents are the fact that:
1. She was abandoned in a Roman Catholic
Church in Iloilo
2. She has typical Filipino features.

There are disputable presumptions that

things have happened according to the
ordinary course of nature. On this basis, it is
safer to assume that Poe’s parents are
Filipinos. To assume otherwise is to accept
the absurd.

Legislation
Foundlings are as a class, natural born
citizens.
Ø 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.
Ø 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.
Ø Recent legislation all expressly refer to
“Filipino children” and include foundlings as
among Filipino children who may be adopted.

Generally accepted 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:
1. 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)
2. Convention on the Reduction of
Statelessness (foundling is presumed born
of citizens of the country where he is found)
bind the Philippines although we are not
signatory to these conventions.

Poe’s evidence shows that at least 60

countries in Asia, North and South America
and Europe have passed legislation
recognizing foundlings as its citizens. 166
out of 189 countries accept that foundlings
are recognized as citizens. Hence, there is a
generally accepted principle of international
law to presume foundlings as having been
born and a national of the country in which it
is found.

2) After renouncing her American

citizenship and after having taken her Oath of
Allegiance to the Republic of the Philippines,
has Poe re-acquired her status as a natural-
born Filipino citizen? Yes, Poe’s repatriation
resulted to reacquisition of natural born
citizenship.

A natural born citizen before he lost his

Philippine nationality will be restored to his
former status as natural born Filipino after
repatriation (Benson v. HRET, Pareno v.
Commission on Audit etc).

3) Has Poe satisfied the 10 year residency

requirement? Yes, she will have been a
resident for 10 years and 11 months on the
day of the election.

[T]here is overwhelming evidence that leads

to no to other conclusion that Poe decided to
permanently abandon her US residence and
reside in the Philippines as early as May 24,
2005.
Poe presented voluminous evidence showing
that she and her family abandoned their US
domicile and relocated to the Philippines for
good. These evidence include former US
passport showing her arrival on May 24, 2005
and her return to the Philippines every time
she travelled abroad, email correspondences
with freight company to arrange for the
shipment of household items as well as with
the pet Bureau; school records of her
children showing enrolment in the Philippine
to the Philippine schools starting on June
2005 etc. xxx These evidence, coupled with
her eventual application to reacquire
Philippine citizenship is clear that when she
returned in May 2005, it was for good.

Poe was able to prove that her statement in

her 2013 COC was only a mistake in good
faith. As explained by Grace Poe, she
misunderstood the date required in the 2013
COC as the period of residence as of the day
she submitted that COC in 2012. She said
that she reckoned residency from April-May
2006 which was the period when the U.S.
house was sold and her husband returned to
the Philippines. In that regard, she was
advised by her lawyers in 2015 that residence
could be counted from 25 May 2005. Such a
mistake could be given in evidence against
her but it was by no means conclusive
considering the overwhelming evidence
submitted by Poe.