Ex-Pateros mayor files disqualification bid vs Cayetano

Even before his legal battle to disqualify his namesake is over, Genuine Opposition senatorial bet Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano found himself Thursday facing a new petition before the Commission on Elections seeking to stop him from running in the May 14 polls. In an 8-page petition filed before the Comelec, former Pateros mayor Jose Capco asked the poll body to deny due course to Cayetano's certificate of candidacy. Capco alleged that Cayetano is not a natural-born Filipino citizen and that he made misrepresentation in his certificate of candidacy. The petitioner cited Sec. 3, Article VI of the Constitution, which provides that "no person shall be a senator unless he is a natural-born citizen of the Philippines…". Capco alleged that respondent Cayetano is "in fact an American citizen" who has "willfully and expressly renounced his Filipino citizenship" through a series of acts that "indicate his real allegiance to a foreign country and leaves no doubt as to the manifest character of his renunciation." "Accordingly, someone who has expressly renounced his Philippine citizenship willfully and deliberately…. cannot be elected as a senator, precisely because such a person is not a Filipino citizen as required by law," Capco said in his petition. Earlier, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez raised the issue of Cayetano's fitness to run for senator on the basis of his nationality, saying that based on records available to the DOJ, the candidate is apparently an American citizen. In an interview on Wednesday, after the hearing on his petition for disqualification against Kilusang Bagong Lipunan senatorial candidate Joselito "Peter" Cayetano, the lawmaker said there is no legal basis to raise the issue of his nationality as to his candidacy for senator. "There's no nationality issue actually, there's only a Gonzalez 'kulang sa pansin' (craving for attention) syndrome," Cayetano told reporters. "Under the Supreme Court ruling on the dual citizenship, whether or not Secretary Gonzalez is telling the truth, I'd still be qualified," he added. In his complaint, Capco further alleged that Cayetano was granted an Alien Certificate of Registration on March 18, 1976, which indicates that he is an American citizen. On Jan. 23, 1985, Capco said Cayetano personally applied for and was granted a new ACR, where the latter stated that he is a citizen of the United States of America. But when campaigning for municipal councilor of Taguig in the 1992 elections, Capco said respondent was issued Identification Certificate No. BC-1295, as a Filipino citizen, by the Bureau of Immigration on March 2, 1992. However, Capco said such Identification Certificate "has never been affirmed by the Secretary of Justice" as required by the law. By indicating in his certificate of candidacy for senator that he is a Filipino citizen, Capco said Cayetano committed material misrepresentation, which is one of the grounds for disqualification of a candidate. "By claiming and subscribing under oath that he is a Filipino citizen, despite not being such, respondent clearly intends to willfully and deliberately misrepresent to the electorate that he is qualified when in fact he is not," Capco said. - GMANews.TV