Poe-Llamanzares v. Comelec

G.R. No. 221697March 8, 2016Perez, J.En Banc

The Court held that COMELEC gravely abused its discretion in cancelling Grace Poe's COC, ruling that foundlings are natural-born Filipinos and that she met the ten-year residency requirement.

Doctrine

A foundling found in the Philippines is presumed, absent substantial contrary evidence, to be a natural-born Filipino citizen, both under the intent of the constitutional framers and under generally accepted principles of international law. A certificate of candidacy may be cancelled under Section 78 only for a false material representation coupled with deliberate intent to deceive the electorate; the COMELEC may not use such a petition to determine a candidate's qualifications, jurisdiction over which belongs to the proper electoral tribunal after election.

Facts

Mary Grace Poe-Llamanzares, a foundling discovered in a Jaro, Iloilo church in 1968 and later adopted by Fernando Poe, Jr. and Susan Roces, became a naturalized American in 2001, reacquired Philippine citizenship under R.A. No. 9225 in 2006, and renounced her U.S. citizenship in 2010. In her 2015 COC for President she declared she was a natural-born citizen and a resident of the Philippines for ten years and eleven months before 9 May 2016. Elamparo, Tatad, Contreras and Valdez filed petitions to deny due course to or cancel her COC, alleging material misrepresentation as to citizenship and residency. The COMELEC Divisions and En Banc cancelled her COC, prompting these certiorari petitions.

Issues and how the Court ruled

Whether the COMELEC had jurisdiction, in a petition to deny due course to or cancel a certificate of candidacy, to determine the citizenship and residency qualifications of a presidential candidate

No. The only issue in a Section 78 proceeding is whether the candidate made a false material representation, and the exclusivity of that ground restrains the COMELEC from passing upon qualifications that remain undetermined by the proper authority. The Constitution vests jurisdiction over contests on the election, returns and qualifications of the President in the Supreme Court sitting en banc as Presidential Electoral Tribunal; no provision gives the COMELEC power over candidates' qualifications, and such want of authority cannot be supplied by a mere rule such as Rule 25. The COMELEC therefore acted with grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack of jurisdiction.

Whether petitioner, a foundling, is a natural-born citizen of the Philippines

Yes. There is more than sufficient circumstantial evidence (place and time of her finding, her physical features, statistical improbability of foreign parentage) to sustain the presumption that she was born of Filipino parents, and the burden of proving otherwise lay on those attacking her status. The deliberations of the 1934 Constitutional Convention show foundlings were understood to be citizens, and generally accepted principles of international law, which form part of the law of the land, presume a foundling to be a national of the place where found. Being natural-born, she validly reacquired that same status under R.A. No. 9225.

Whether petitioner satisfied the ten-year residency requirement and committed material misrepresentation in her COC

Yes as to residency; no as to misrepresentation. The evidence of her abandonment of U.S. domicile and reestablishment of domicile in the Philippines — relocation of her children's schooling, shipment of household goods, purchase of a condominium and construction of a family home — shows animus manendi and non-revertendi as of 24 May 2005, and reacquisition of citizenship was not a precondition to reestablishing domicile. Her contrary entry in the 2012 COC for Senator was an honest mistake and, absent a deliberate intent to deceive the electorate, cannot amount to the material misrepresentation required to cancel a COC.

Ratio

In a Section 78 cancellation case the sole ground is false material representation made with deliberate intent to deceive; the COMELEC cannot itself adjudicate a candidate's qualifications, which the Constitution reserves to the electoral tribunals. Moreover, foundlings enjoy a presumption of natural-born Filipino citizenship, and petitioner's evidence established reestablishment of Philippine domicile from 24 May 2005, so no false material representation existed.

Remember it as

💡 The foundling of Jaro becomes a natural-born Filipino — COMELEC cannot judge a candidate's qualifications, only her lies.

From the Supreme Court's own index

Effects of adoption under R.A. No. 8552An adoptee is entitled to an amended birth certificate attesting to the fact that the former is a child of the adopter(s). AFP MILITARY PERSONNEL RETIREMENT AND SEPARATION DECREE OF 1979 (P.D. NO. 1638)
BalikbayansBalikbayans are not ordinary transients. ANTI-CARNAPPING ACT (R.A. NO. 6539 AS AMENDED BY R.A. NO. 7659)
Petition forCOMELEC’s treatment of a candidate’s previous certificate of candidacy (COC) as a binding and conclusive admission of a mistake as to the period of residence constitutes grave abuse of discretion when the same is overcome by evidence.
FoundlingsDomestic laws on adoption support the principle that foundlings are Filipinos.
Qualification of candidatesPrior authoritative finding that a candidate is suffering from a disqualification must be had before a certificate of candidacy can be cancelled or denied due course on grounds of false representations.
DomicileAcquisition of new domicile, requisites; when complied with.
Generally accepted principlesCurrent legislation reveals the adherence of the Philippines to the generally accepted principle of international law; the presumption of natural-born citizenship of foundlings is a virtual certainty. INTERVENTION
Judicial PrecedentA new rule reversing a standing doctrine cannot be retroactively applied.
Proof ofFilipino parentage may be proved by evidence on collateral matters pursuant to Sec. 4, Rule 128 of the Rules of Court.
CitizenshipFoundlings are natural-born citizens.

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