CIRILO VALLES vs. COMELEC & ROSALIND Y.

LOPEZ
G.R. No. 137000, August 9, 2000, 337 SCRA 543

FACTS: Rosalind Ybasco Lopez was born on May 16, 1934 in Western Australia to Filipino father and
Australian mother. In 1952, she married to a Filipino citizen, Leopoldo Lopez, in Manila. Since then, she
has continuously participated in the Philippine electoral process not only as a voter but as a candidate.
When she ran for governor of Davao Oriental, her election was contested by her opponent as she was an
Australian citizen.

ISSUE: Whether or not Rosalind Ybasco Lopez is a natural born citizen.

HELD: YES. Rosalind Ybasco Lopez is a Filipino citizen, having born to a Filipino father. The fact of her
being born in Australia is not tantamount to her losing her Philippine citizenship. If Australia follows the
principle of jus soli, then at most, she can also claim Australian citizenship resulting to her possession of
dual citizenship. When she filed her certificate of candidacy, such fact alone terminated her Australian
citizenship.
ERNESTO MERCADO vs. EDUARDO MANZANO
G.R. No. 135083, May 26, 1999, 307 SCRA 630

FACTS: Edu Manzano was born in San Francisco, California, USA and he acquired US citizenship by
operation of the US Constitution and laws under the principle of jus soli. He was a natural born Filipino
citizen by operation of the 1935 Philippine Constitution, as his father and mother were Filipinos at the
time of his birth.

During the 1998 local elections, Manzano obtained the highest number of votes among the candidates for
vice mayor of Makati City but his proclamation was suspended in view of a petition for disqualification
as Manzano was not a citizen of the Philippines but of the United States.

ISSUE: Whether or not Manzano is a natural born citizen and qualified as candidate for vice mayor of
Makati City.

HELD: YES. Since the Philippines adheres to the principle of jus sanguinis, while the United States
follows the doctrine of jus soli, at birth, he was a national of both of the Philippines and of the United
States. By participating in 1998 Philippine elections, Manzano effectively renounced his U.S. citizenship
under American law so that now he is solely a Philippine national. The filing of certificate of candidacy
sufficed to renounce his American citizenship and effectively removing any disqualification he might
have as a dual citizen.
MA. JEANETTE TECSON vs. COMELEC & FPJ
G.R. No. 161634, March 3, 2004, 424 SCRA 277

FACTS: Atty. Fornier filed a Petition for Disqualification of Presidential Candidate FPJ. He asserted that
Poe is not a citizen, much more a natural-born citizen. Fornier would have it that even if Allan F. Poe
were a Filipino citizen, he could not have transmitted his citizenship to FPJ, the latter being an
illegitimate child. According to Fornier, prior to his marriage to Bessie Kelley, Allan F. Poe, on July 5,
1936, contracted marriage with a certain Paulita Gomez, making his subsequent marriage to Bessie Kelley
bigamous and FPJ an illegitimate child. The veracity of the supposed certificate of marriage between
Allan F. Poe and Paulita Gomez could be most doubtful at best. But the documentary evidence introduced
by no less than FPJ himself, consisting of a birth certificate of FPJ and marriage certificate of his parents
showed that FPJ was born on 20 August 1939 to a Filipino father and an American mother who were
married to each other a year later, or on 16 September 1940. Birth to unmarried parents would make FPJ
an illegitimate child. Atty. Fornier further contended that as an illegitimate child, FPJ so followed the
citizenship of his mother, Bessie Kelley, an American citizen.

ISSUE: Whether Fernando Poe Jr., the hero of silver screen and one of the main contenders for the May
2004 presidency, a natural - born Filipino.

HELD: YES. The question whether grave abuse of discretion has been committed by the Comelec, it is
necessary to take on the matter of whether or not respondent FPJ is a natural-born citizen, which, in turn,

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depended on whether or not the father of respondent, Allan F. Poe, would have himself been a Filipino
citizen and, in the affirmative, whether or not the alleged illegitimacy of FPJ prevents him from taking
after the Filipino citizenship of his putative father. Any conclusion on the Filipino citizenship of Lorenzo
Pou could only be drawn from the presumption that having died in 1954 at 84 years old, Lorenzo would
have been born sometime in the year 1870, when the Philippines was under Spanish rule, and that San
Carlos, Pangasinan, his place of residence upon his death in 1954, in the absence of any other evidence,
could have well been his place residence before death, such that Lorenzo Pou would have benefited from
the en masse Filipinization that the Philippine Bill had effected in 1902. That citizenship of Lorenzo
Pou, if acquired, would thereby extend to his son, Allan F. Poe, father of respondent FPJ. The 1935
Constitution, during which regime FPJ has seen first light, confers citizenship to all persons whose fathers
are Filipino citizens regardless of whether such children are legitimate or illegitimate.

But while the totality of the evidence may not establish conclusively that respondent FPJ is a natural-born
citizen of the Philippines, the evidence on hand still would preponderate in his favor enough to hold that
he cannot be held guilty of having made a material misrepresentation in his certificate of candidacy in
violation of Section 78, in relation to Section 74, of the Omnibus Election Code.

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