B2- TABAJONDA RAYMOND R.

CASE DIGEST Week 3 (SEPTEMBER 24, 2022)

MARY GRACE NATIVIDAD S POE- LLAMANZARES vs.

COMELEC,et al.
GR Nos. 221697, March 8,2016

FACTS:

The petition is composed of two consolidated petitions under Rule 64 in relation to Rule 65 of
the Rules of Court with extremely urgent application for an ex parte issuance of temporary
restraining order/status quo ante order and/or writ of preliminary injunction assailing the
following:

1. DECEMBER 1, 2015 RESOLUTION OF THE COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS SECOND

DIVISION (Cancelled petitioner’s certificate of candidacy);

2. DECEMBER 23, 2015 RESOLUTION OF THE COMELEC EN BANC

(Denied petitioner’s motion for reconsideration); and

3. DECEMBER 11, 2015 RESOLUTION OF THE COMELEC FIRST DIVISION

(Declared that petitioner is not a natural-born citizen, that she failed to complete the ten (10)
year residency requirement, and that she committed material misrepresentation in her COC
when she declared therein that she has been a resident of the Philippines for a period of ten 10
years and 11 months as of the day of the elections on 9 May 2016)

ISSUES:

(1) Whether Grace Poe- Llamanzares is a natural- born Filipino citizen

(2) Whether Grace Poe satisfies the 10-year residency requirement.

Ruling:

1. YES. GRACE POE is considerably a natural-born Filipino Citizen.

2. As to the residency issue, Grace Poe satisfied the 10-year residency

Application:
1. For a natural-born Filipino Citizen., she satisfied the constitutional requirement that only
natural-born Filipinos may run for Presidency.
- there is high probability that Poe’s parents are Filipinos, as being shown in her physical
features which are typical of Filipinos, aside from the fact that she was found as an infant in
Jaro, Iloilo, a municipality wherein there is 99% probability that residents there are Filipinos,
consequently providing 99% chance that Poe’s bilogical parents are Filipinos. Said probability
and circumstancial evidence are admissible under Rule 128, Sec 4 of the Rules on Evidence.
- The SC pronounced that FOUNDLINGS are as a class, natural born- citizens as based on the
deliberations of the 1935 Constitutional Convention, wherein though its enumeration is silent as
to foundlings, there is no restrictive language either to definitely exclude the foundlings to be
natural born citizens.
2. The 10-year residency is satisfied because she satisfied the requirements of ANIMUS
MANENDI (intent to remain permanently) coupled with ANIMUS NON REVERTENDI (intent of
not returning to US) in acquiring a new domicile in the Philippines. Starting May 24,2005, upon
returning to the Philippines, Grace Poe presented overwhelming evidence of her actual stay and
intent to abandon permanently her domicile in the US, coupled with her eventual application to
reacquire Filipino Citizenship under RA 9225. Hence, her candidacy for Presidency was granted
by the SC.

- that Foundlings are automatically conferred with the natural-born citizenship as to the country
where they are being found, as covered and supported by the UN Convention Law.

Dissenting Opinion of Justice Brion:

As a foundling whose parents are both unknown, the respondent’s Philippine citizenship cannot be
established, recognized, or presumed under the 1935 Constitution:
a. the 1935 Constitution did not grant citizenship to children born in the Philippines whose parents were
unknown;
b. the presumption that the respondent claims –
that a foundling’s parents are citizens of the territory where the foundling is found
– inherently contradicts the terms and underlying principles of the 1935 Constitution. Thus, the
presumption cannot be recognized as part of the law of the land applicable to her case;
c. the Philippines’ treaty obligations do not grant Philippine citizenship outright to foundlings. These
obligations simply require the country to recognize a foundling’s right to acquire Philippines citizenship.
The respondent cannot also be considered a natural-born Philippine citizen: since her citizenship
cannot be established, recognized, or presumed, she had no citizenship to reacquire under RA 9225;
even if she had been a natural-born Philippine citizen, her naturalization in the U.S. rendered her
ineligible to be considered natural-born. As a foreigner who had undergone an expedited form of
naturalization under RA 9225, she had to perform acts to acquire Philippine citizenship and did not,
therefore fall under the Constitution’s definition of a natural-born citizen

Conclusion:
The procedure and the conclusions from which the questioned Resolutions emanated are
tainted with grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack of jurisdiction. The petitioner is a
QUALIFIED CANDIDATE for President in the 9 May 2016 National Elections.