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Sen. Grace Poe: I renounced US citizenship before becoming MTRCB chief


Senator Grace Poe said on Monday that she was a dual citizen and she had renounced her United States citizenship even before she entered government service and become chairperson of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB).
 
“Ako’y naging dual citizen noon, but I had to give it up. Kinailangan kong isuko iyan. Ang kondisyon niyan (dual citizenship), kapag ikaw ay maninilbihan sa gobyerno, sa anumang posisyon, kailangan ay isuko mo kung anuman ang naging isa pang citizenship mo,” Poe said.

Poe spoke about her citizenship after a local daily broadsheet published a report which said the senator, daughter of the late Philippine movie icon Fernando Poe Jr., has a US passport and Philippine passport.
 
The same newspaper report said Senator Poe "is being hounded by questions on her citizenship" but the article did not substantiate its characterization of the issue in relation to the senator.
 
“Hindi ako maglalakas-loob na tumanggap ng posisyon sa gobyerno, sa MTRCB (Movie Television Review and Classification Board) pa lang, kung hindi ako kwalipikado at hindi ako Pilipino,” she added.

Poe was MTRCB chair from 2010 to 2012.
 
Senator Poe said she already submitted her travel documents to authorities and the public can scrutinize it.
 
“Malinaw po sa mga dokumento, hindi po ito tagong yaman. Ito po ay mga dokumentong naisumite ko na sa mga ahensya na pwede ninyong busisiin,” she said.
 
She explained that she became a dual citizen when she resided in America but renounced it when she returned to the country after her father died in 2004.
 
“To revert back to Filipino citizenship, ire-renounce mo lang 'yung US citizenship mo. 'Yun lang ang ginawa ko. 'Yun kasi ay condition ng Dual Citizenship Law. Hindi iyon to-reacquire Philippine citizenship kasi it reverts back to that automatically,” she said.
 
Poe also said that she is a natural-born Filipino and she never abandoned it. 
 
“Hindi po totoo iyon sapagkat ang dual citizenship law na sinulat mismo nina Sen. (Franklin) Drilon at ng iba pa nating kasama dito—kung ano man ang iyong citizenship prior to your dual citizenship status, 'pag na-renounce mo iyon, you will revert back to your original status—which is natural-born,” she said.
 
Poe earlier expressed disappointment that some of her rivals are now questioning her citizenship just because her name is being floated as one of probable contenders in the 2016 presidential polls. The senator has yet to make a decision on whether she will run or not.
 
“It’s sad that others have to resort to the same issue on citizenship the way that they did with FPJ (her late adoptive father, actor and one-time presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr.). Perhaps others use the citizenship issue when they have no other way to attack a possible opponent,” Poe earlier told GMA News Online.  — ELR/KG, GMA News
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