FRIVALDO VS. COMELEC (1996)
COMELEC
July 08, 2013
GR No. 120295, June 28 1996, 257 SCRA 727
FACTS:
Juan G. Frivaldo ran for Governor of Sorsogon again and won. Raul
R. Lee questioned his citizenship. He then petitioned for repatriation
under Presidential Decree No. 725 and was able to take his oath of
allegiance as a Philippine citizen.
However, on the day that he got his citizenship, the Court had already
ruled based on his previous attempts to run as governor and acquire
citizenship, and had proclaimed Lee, who got the second highest
number of votes, as the newly elect Governor of Sorsogon.
ISSUE:
Whether or not Frivaldo’s repatriation was valid.
HELD:
The Court ruled his repatriation was valid and legal and because of
the curative nature of Presidential Decree No. 725, his repatriation
retroacted to the date of the filing of his application to run for
governor. The steps to reacquire Philippine Citizenship by repatriation
under Presidential Decree No. 725 are:
(1) filing the application;
(2) action by the committee; and
(3) taking of the oath of allegiance if the application is approved.
It is only upon taking the oath of allegiance that the applicant is
deemed ipso jure to have reacquired Philippine citizenship. If the
decree had intended the oath taking to retroact to the date of the filing
of the application, then it should not have explicitly provided
otherwise. He is therefore qualified to be proclaimed governor of
Sorsogon.
FRIVALDO VS.
Ponente: Justice PANGANIBAN, 1996
FACTS:
 Petitioner Frivaldo filed his certificate for Candidacy for
Governor about 3 weeks before the election. Private
Respondent Lee, another candidate for the said position, filed
a petition to disqualify Frivaldo by reason of not being a citizen
of the Philippines.
 A week before the election, Second Division of COMELEC
promulgated a resolution granting the petition of Lee.
 A motion for Reconsideration was filed by Frivaldo which
remained unacted until after the elections. Thus, his candidacy
continued and he was voted during the elections.
 Few days after the Election, COMELEC En Banc affirmed the
promulgated resolution of the Second Division.
 Frivaldo garnered the highest number of votes in the said
election.
 Lee filed a petition praying for his proclamation as Governor.
 Lee was then proclaimed as Governor.
 Frivaldo filed a petition for annulment of the proclamation of
Lee and for his own proclamation alleging that he had already
taken his oath of allegiance as a citizen of the Philippines
which he filed a couple of months ago before the election.
 Frivaldo’s motion was recognized and was then proclaimed as
Governor.
 Lee filed a motion for reconsideration which was denied by
COMELEC En Banc.
ISSUES:
Private Respondent Lee filed this instant petition for Certiorari,
Preliminary Injunction, and Annulment of the COMELEC decision and
resolution.
W/N Frivaldo’s repatriation was valid and legal. If it, did was it able to
cure his lack of citizenship. If not, may it be given a retroactive effect?
DECISION:
The Court dismissed the petition and affirmed the decision of
COMELEC.
Under Sec. 39 of the Local Government Code, "(a)n elective local
official must be:
A Citizen of the Philippines
The court held that the law does not specify any particular date or
time when the candidate must possess citizenship. At the same time,
literally speaking, such qualification of citizenship should thus be
possessed when the “elective [elected] official” begins to govern. In
the instant case, Frivaldo re-assumed his citizenship on the very day
the term of office of governor (and other elective official) began; he
was therefore already qualified to be proclaimed, to hold the office
and to discharge the functions and responsibilities thereof as of said
date.
MARY GRACE NATIVIDAD POE-LLAMENZARES V. COMELEC, et
al.
GR No. 221698
8 March 2016
Perez, J.
FACTS: Mary Grace Natividadad S. Poe-Llamanzares was found in the
Parish Church of Jaro, Iloilo as a newborn infant by Edgardo Militar in
1968. She was reported by Emiliano Militar, together with his wife, was
registered as a foundling, and was given the name “Mary Grace
Natividad Contreras Militar” in her Foundling Certificate and Certificate
of Live Birth. She was then adopted in 1974 by celebrity spouses
Fernando Poe, Jr. and Susan Roces.
Despite securing all the needed documents and certificates that
reflect the court decreed adoption, it was only in 2005 when Susan
Roces found out that their lawyer failed to secure a new Certificate of
Live Birth from the Office of the Civil Registrar of Iloilo (OCR-Iloilo)
indicating petitioner’s new name and the adoptive parents’ name.
Roces then executed an affidavit attesting to the lawyer's omission
which she submitted to the OCR-Iloilo. A new Certificate of Live Birth in
the name of “Mary Grace Natividad Sonora Poe,” was then released by
OCR-Iloilo.
At 18 years old, the petitioner registered as a voter with the local
COMELEC Office in San Juan City. In 1988, she left for the United
States of America to continue her studies. In 1991, petitioner married
Teodoro Llamanzares, a citizen of both the Philippines and the U.S., in
San Juan City and flew back to the U.S. two days after their wedding.
The petitioner then became a naturalized American citizen in 2001.
However, she decided to move and reside permanently in the
Philippines after her adoptive father died in 2005 and took her Oath of
Allegiance to the Republic of the Philippines pursuant to RA 9225 or
the Citizenship Retention and Re-Acquisition Act of 2003, which was
acted favorably by the Bureau of Immigration, considering her as a dual
citizen.
In 2010, the petitioner was appointed by President Aquino as
Chairperson of the MTRCB. Before taking her post, she executed an
Affidavit of Renunciation of Allegiance to the United States of America
and Renunciation of American Citizenship and submitted it to the
Bureau of Immigration. In 2011 the petitioner received her Certificate of petitioner that only leads to her decision to stay for good re-acquire her
Loss of Nationality of the United States issued by the US Vice Consul, Philippine citizenship.
effective October 21, 2010.

On October 2015, the petitioner filed her Certificate of

Candidacy (COC) for Presidency for the May 2016 Elections. The
petitioner declared in her COC that she is a natural-born citizen and
that she has been residing in the Philippines for 10 years and 11
months, counting from May 24 2005 up to the day before the elections
(May 9, 2016), and attached her Affidavit Affirming Renunciation of
USA Citizenship sworn to before a notary public in Quezon City on
October 2015.

After the petitioner filed her COC, Elamparo filed a petition with
COMELEC to cancel petitioner’s COC, arguing that the petitioner has
not been a citizen of the Philippines for at least 10 years and 11 months
as stated in her COC and cannot be considered as a natural-born
Filipino because she was, in fact, a foundling. COMELEC decided
against the petitioner and canceled her COC, resolving that she is not
a natural-born citizen and did not complete the requirement of 10-year
residency in the Philippines to run for the position of presidency.

ISSUE: Whether or not the petitioner is a natural-born citizen and was

able to reside in the Philippines for 10 years to qualify as a candidate
for presidency.

RULING: Yes. The Court rules that the petitioner is a natural-born

citizen and was able to reside for at least 10 years in the Philippines as
a requirement for presidency. Foundlings are citizens under
international law. In the 1987 Constitution, an international law can
become part of the sphere of domestic law either by transformation or
incorporation.

The common thread of the UDHR, UNCRC and ICCPR is to

obligate the Philippines to grant nationality from birth and ensure that
no child is stateless. Under Article 14 of the 1930 Hague Convention
on Certain Questions Relating to the Conflict of National Laws, it states
that if the child’s parents are both unknown then the child must have
the nationality of the country of birth. On the petitioner’s residency, the
Court ruled that her residency in the Philippines started when she
returned on May 24, 2005 due to the overwhelming evidence of the