Tecson vs.

COMELEC

FACTS:

The case at bar is a consolidated case filed by petitioners questioning the certificate of candidacy of herein
private respondent Ronald Allan Kelly Poe also known as Fernando Poe, Jr. The latter filed his certificate
of candidacy for the position of President of the Philippines under the Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang
Pilipino (KNP) party. He represented himself in said certificate as a natural-born citizen of the
Philippines, which reason that petitioners filed a petition before the Comelec to disqualify private
respondent Fernando Poe, Jr. and to deny due course or to cancel hiscertificate of candidacy on the
ground that the latter made a material misrepresentation in his certificate of candidacy by claiming to be a
natural-born Filipino when in truth his parents were foreigners and he is an illegitimate child. The
Comelec dismissed the petition. Hence, this appeal.

ISSUE:

The controversy in the case at bar centers on the citizenship of Fernando Poe, Jr. as to whether or not he is
a natural-born citizen of the Philippines.

RULING:

Before discussing on the issue at hand it is worth stressing that since private respondent Fernando Poe, Jr.
was born on August 20, 1939, the applicable law then controlling was the 1935 constitution. The issue on
private respondent’s citizenship is so essential in view of the constitutional provision that, “No person
may be elected President unless he is a natural-born citizen ofthe Philippines, a registered voter, able to
read and write, at least forty years of age on the day of the election, and a resident of the Philippines for at
least ten years immediately preceding such election.” Natural-born citizens are those who are citizens of
the Philippines from birth without having to perform any act to acquire or perfect their Philippine
citizenship. Based on the evidence presented which the Supreme consider as viable is the fact that the
deathcertificate of Lorenzo Poe, father of Allan Poe, who in turn was the father of private respondent
Fernando Poe, Jr. indicates that he died on September 11, 1954 at the age of 84 years, in San Carlos,
Pangasinan. Evidently, in such deathcertificate, the residence of Lorenzo Poe was stated to be San Carlos,
Pangansinan. In the absence of any evidence to the contrary, it should be sound to conclude, or at least to
presume, that the place ofresidence of a person at the time of his death was also his residence before
death. Considering that the allegations of petitioners are not substantiated with proof and since Lorenzo
Poe may have been benefited from the “en masse Filipinization” that the Philippine Bill had effected in
1902, there is no doubt that Allan Poe father of private respondent Fernando Poe, Jr. was a Filipino
citizen. And, since the latter is governed by the provisions of the 1935 Constitution which constitution
considers as citizens ofthe Philippines those whose fathers are citizens of the Philippines, Fernando Poe,
Jr. was in fact a natural-born citizen of the Philippines regardless of whether or not he is legitimate or
illegitimate