2019-119284 Public International Law

Case Digest No. 1

MARY GRACE NATIVIDAD S. POE-LLAMANZARES v.

COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS and ESTRELLA C. ELAMPARO, et al.,
G.R. No. 221697-700. March 8, 2016

TOPIC/S: Foundlings; Presumptions.

EXCERPT: This case started when the running of herein Petitioner for Presidency
in 2016 was questioned for not being a natural-born citizen of the country and her non-
compliance of the residency-requirement of 10 years prior to the filing of her Certificate
of Candidacy (COC).

FACTS:

Grace Poe was born in 1968, found as newborn infant in Jaro, Iloilo and was
legally adopted by Ronald Allan Kelly Poe (FPJ) and Jesus Sonora Poe (Susan
Roces). She immigrated to the US in 1991 after her marriage to Theodore
Llamanzares who was then based at the US. Grace Poe then became a naturalized
American citizen in 2001.

In 2004, she then returned to the Philippines due to her father’s deteriorating
medical condition, who then died. In 2006, the BI granted her petition declaring that
she had reacquired her Filipino citizenship under RA 9225. She registered as a voter
and obtained a new Philippine Passport.

Petitions were filed before the COMELEC to deny or cancel her candidacy on the
ground particularly among others, that she cannot be considered a natural born
Filipino citizen since she was a FOUNDLING and that her biological parents cannot
be proved as Filipinos. The Comelec en banc cancelled her candidacy on the ground
that she is in want of citizenship and residence requirements and that she committed
misrepresentation in her COC. Thus, this petition.

ISSUES:

1. Whether or not foundlings found in the Philippines are natural-born Filipinos;

and

2. Whether or not the concept of foundlings in international law is applicable in

the Philippines.

RULINGS:

(1)
Foundlings found in the Philippines are natural-born Filipinos.

View that the statutes providing for adoption only allow the recognition of
filiation for children who are Filipinos. They allow adoption of foundlings. Therefore,
foundlings are, by law, presumed to be Filipino.

Adopting these legal principles from the 1930 Hague Convention and the 1961
Convention on Statelessness is rational and reasonable and consistent with the jus
sanguinis regime in our Constitution. The presumption of natural-born citizenship of
foundlings stems from the presumption that their parents are nationals of the
Philippines. As the empirical data provided by the PSA show, that presumption is at
more than 99% and is a virtual certainty.

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2019-119284 Public International Law
Case Digest No. 1

(2)
The concept of foundlings in international law is
applicable in the Philippines.

Foundlings are likewise citizens under international law. Under the 1987
Constitution, an international law can become part of the sphere of domestic law either
by transformation or incorporation. The transformation method requires that an
international law be transformed into a domestic law through a constitutional
mechanism such as local legislation. On the other hand, generally accepted principles
of international law, by virtue of the incorporation clause of the Constitution, form part
of the laws of the land even if they do not derive from treaty obligations.

Treaties are “international agreement[s] concluded between states in written

form and governed by international law, whether embodied in a single instrument or
in two or more related instruments and whatever its particular designation.” They
require concurrence by the Senate before they become binding upon the state. Thus,
Article VII, Section 21 of the Constitution provides: SECTION 21. No treaty or
international agreement shall be valid and effective unless concurred in by at least
two-thirds of all the Members of the Senate. Ratification of treaties by the Senate
makes it legally effective and binding by transformation.

Generally accepted principles of international law include international custom

as evidence of a general practice accepted as law, and general principles of law
recognized by civilized nations.

International customary rules are accepted as binding as a result from the

combination of two elements:
1. the established, widespread, and consistent practice on the
part of States (objective element); and
2. a psychological element known as the opinion juris sive
necessitates (opinion as to law or necessity).

Implicit in the latter element is a belief that the practice in question is rendered
obligatory by the existence of a rule of law requiring it.

The common thread of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

(UDHR), United Nations Convention on the Rights of the
Child (UNCRC) and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is to
obligate the Philippines to grant nationality from birth and ensure that no child is
stateless.

The principles found in two conventions, while yet unratified by the Philippines,
are generally accepted principles of international law. The first is Article 14 of the 1930
Hague Convention on Certain Questions Relating to the Conflict of Nationality Laws
under which a foundling is presumed to have the “nationality of the country of birth,”
to wit: Article 14 A child whose parents are both unknown shall have the
nationality of the country of birth. If the child’s parentage is established, its
nationality shall be determined by the rules applicable in cases where the parentage
is known. A foundling is, until the contrary is proved, presumed to have been born on
the territory of the State in which it was found. (Underlining supplied) The second is
the principle that a foundling is presumed born of citizens of the country where he is
found, contained in Article 2 of the 1961 United Nations Convention on the Reduction
of Statelessness: Article 2 A foundling found in the territory of a Contracting State
shall, in the absence of proof to the contrary, be considered to have been born within
the territory of parents possessing the nationality of that State.

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