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Tiangco: Grace Poe can’t use own interpretation of law to meet residency requirement
By XIANNE ARCANGEL, GMA News
(UPDATED 10: 56 p.m.) Senator Grace Poe cannot cite her personal interpretation of the law to cover up for her failure to meet the 10-year residency requirement for presidential and vice presidential candidates, an opposition leader said Wednesday.
United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) interim president and Navotas City Rep. Toby Tiangco said it is clear in the Constitution that the date of reference for determining the length of a candidate’s residency is based on election day, which was May 13 for the 2013 midterm polls.
“Di pwedeng maging dahilan ‘iyong hindi tama ang appreciation dito sa bagay na ito dahil it refers to the Constitutional requirement, and the Constitutional requirement refers to election day,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Poe maintained she is qualified to run for higher office next year because she has been residing in the Philippines since 2005.
However, she said she decided to “err on the side of prudence” and wrote down six years and six months as her period of residency on her certificate of candidacy in the 2013 polls because it was only in 2006 that she was able to sell their family’s house in the United States.
“Inilagay ko po iyon dahil noong 2006 lang naibenta ang bahay namin sa Amerika, April 2006, which can be proven. So sabi ko at that time baka naman iyon ang ibig nilang sabihin,” she said.
Tiangco later said in a radio interview Poe could be held liable for perjury if her declaration in her COC was not accurate as the certificate was a sworn document.
Tiangco earlier said Poe is not qualified to run for president or for vice president in the 2016 elections because she's six months short of the 10-year residency requirement under the 1987 Constitution.
The opposition leader claimed Poe wouldn’t have a problem establishing her period of residency had she not allegedly renounced her Filipino citizenship to acquire a United States passport.
“Siya ho ay naging US citizen. Bago ka maging US citizen, kailangang i-renounce muna ang iyong pagiging Pilipino kaya na-kwestyon at naputol ‘yung kanyang residency sa Pilipinas. Kung tumira siya sa Amerika, nag-aral siya doon a di siya naging American citizen, walang magiging problema sa kanyang residency requirement. Kaya nagkaroon ng problema doon aydahil may panahon na tinalikuran niya ang pagiging Pilipino na requirement para ka maging American citizen,” Tiangco said.
Poe had admitted to previously being a dual Filipino and American citizen, but said she renounced her American passport before she was appointed as the chairperson of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board in 2010.
United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) interim president and Navotas City Rep. Toby Tiangco said it is clear in the Constitution that the date of reference for determining the length of a candidate’s residency is based on election day, which was May 13 for the 2013 midterm polls.
“Di pwedeng maging dahilan ‘iyong hindi tama ang appreciation dito sa bagay na ito dahil it refers to the Constitutional requirement, and the Constitutional requirement refers to election day,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Poe maintained she is qualified to run for higher office next year because she has been residing in the Philippines since 2005.
However, she said she decided to “err on the side of prudence” and wrote down six years and six months as her period of residency on her certificate of candidacy in the 2013 polls because it was only in 2006 that she was able to sell their family’s house in the United States.
“Inilagay ko po iyon dahil noong 2006 lang naibenta ang bahay namin sa Amerika, April 2006, which can be proven. So sabi ko at that time baka naman iyon ang ibig nilang sabihin,” she said.
Tiangco later said in a radio interview Poe could be held liable for perjury if her declaration in her COC was not accurate as the certificate was a sworn document.
Tiangco earlier said Poe is not qualified to run for president or for vice president in the 2016 elections because she's six months short of the 10-year residency requirement under the 1987 Constitution.
The opposition leader claimed Poe wouldn’t have a problem establishing her period of residency had she not allegedly renounced her Filipino citizenship to acquire a United States passport.
“Siya ho ay naging US citizen. Bago ka maging US citizen, kailangang i-renounce muna ang iyong pagiging Pilipino kaya na-kwestyon at naputol ‘yung kanyang residency sa Pilipinas. Kung tumira siya sa Amerika, nag-aral siya doon a di siya naging American citizen, walang magiging problema sa kanyang residency requirement. Kaya nagkaroon ng problema doon aydahil may panahon na tinalikuran niya ang pagiging Pilipino na requirement para ka maging American citizen,” Tiangco said.
Poe had admitted to previously being a dual Filipino and American citizen, but said she renounced her American passport before she was appointed as the chairperson of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board in 2010.
Animus revertendi
Contrary to Tiangco’s view, House Minority Floor Leader Ronaldo Zamora said a person’s residency could not be cut short just because he or she chooses to live elsewhere for a long time.
“Residency is not established by physical presence. The moment you have established residency through living in the Philippines, [it] means domicile. You do not lose simply because you go to the United States as in the case of Sen. Poe. You don't even lose it even if you stay for an extended number of years… and you don't lose it simply because you adopt another citizenship,” said Zamora, the topnotcher in the 1969 bar examinations.
Should Poe’s residency is questioned before the Supreme Court, he said what will prevail is the doctrine of animus revertendi or "intent to return."
“Animus revertendi means the intention to return to, live and possibly die in the Philippines. In short, the permanency that you should consider is the permanency not of physical presence but of permanency of the intention,” he said.
But Tiangco, who is not a lawyer, said using the aforementioned legal doctrine will only make Poe’s predicament worse since she only renounced her US citizenship five years ago.
“Kasi ang [doctrine ng] animus revertendi means you intend to return to that place. Noong panahon na siya’y American citizen, paano niya sasabihing she intends to return to the Philippines or she intends to stay here? Animus revertendi will only apply mula sa panahong ni-renounce niya ang kanyang US citizenship,” he said.
Burden of proof
On the question of Poe’s citizenship, Zamora said that as a rule of thumb, a foundling is considered a citizen of the country she was found in.
“Doesn't it make sense that if you agree, that if foundling can not be stateless then she has to be a citizen of a specific country? Then what specific country is that? Malinaw na malinaw na Pilipinas. Because kung hindi siya pinanganak dito, papaano siya dumating dito? If you are born a natural citizen, according to Philippine law, you remain a natural born citizen,” he said.
In jest, Zamora added that he’s aware of Poe’s residency because she resides in San Juan, which he represents.
Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate said that while there is no question about Poe’s citizenship, some critics might question the nationality of her true parents. The senator has been open that she was an adopted child of celebrity couple Fernando Poe Jr. and Susan Roces.
However, he and Zamora agreed that burden of proof that Poe isn’t a Filipino citizen will rest on the camp which would raise the issue before the Supreme Court.
“The burden of proof is upon the persons who say hindi siya natural born citizen of the Philippines…It is not for Senator Poe to establish that,” Zamora said. —KBK/JJ, GMA News
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