Grace Poe asks SET to dismiss disqualification case

Senator Grace Poe on Tuesday asked the Senate Electoral Tribunal to dismiss the quo warranto petition filed by defeated senatorial candidate Rizalito David and cite the latter for contempt for forum shopping.

In a 107-page answer, Poe, whose full name is Mary Grace Natividad Sonora Poe Llamanzares,   through her lawyers, described David’s petition as a political smear campaign against her and nullify her mandate as a senator.

“However, petitioner’s true objective is not to unseat respondent. Petitioner could not care less for the integrity of the Senate. His true objective is to prevent respondent, and by extension, all foundlings like her, from aspiring for a higher office, including the Presidency,” she said.

Poe reiterated in her answer that she was born on September 8, 1968, in Jaro, Iloilo and being a foundling, does not know her biological parents. The name Mary Grace Natividad Contreras Militar was the name indicated in her original certificate of live birth.

She was subsequently adopted by spouses Fernando Poe Jr and Susan Roces. The Municipal Court of San Juan, Rizal granted their petition for adoption in a decision on May 13, 1974. The same decision legally changed her name to Mary Grace Natividad Sonora Poe.

Poe denied David’s allegation that she is a US citizen. She stressed that she is a natural-born citizen of the Philippines.

Documentary evidence

Poe on Tuesday submitted to the Senate Electoral Tribunal documents that would answer questions on her citizenship and residency.

“Naisumite na ngayon sa SET (ang mga dokumento). Para sa akin, it is one of relief na maibigay na rin 'yan sapagkat yung mga kwestyon kung ako ba ay natural-born Filipino o hindi ay nasagot naman namin diyan,” Poe told reporters.

“Iyong mga dokumento na kailangan para patunayan ‘yun ay nabigyan na rin kami ng pagkakataon na maisumite,” she added.

She said her legal counsels prepared the documents, including her birth certificate, for the Bureau of Immigration.

“Madali naman naming maibibigay sana kung sa amin lang hiningi dahil yan ay kasamang documentary proof ng aming mga claims,” she said.

She said a document showing that she was a foundling was also submitted.

“Ang alam ko kasama 'yan pag hinihingi nila. Pero lahat ng dates at lahat ng nakapirma sa foundling certificate andun so sigurado naman ay hihingin nila at maisasama yan,” she said.

Grace Poe's reply to the SET case

She also denied that her husband and children are not natural-born Filipinos.

“The truth is that respondent’s husband and children are natural-born Filipinos, as they were each born of at least one Filipino parent,” she said.

She further said that she did not renounce and abjure the Philippines as a country saying she took an oath of allegiance to the U.S.A. only as a necessary condition for her naturalization.

“After her naturalization, respondent maintained her ties to the Philippines and visited the country frequently. She never foreclosed the possibility of one day returning to the Philippines, as indeed, she returned in 2005,” she said.

“At that point, respondent had become a dual-citizen. However, to qualify for public office, this Oath of Allegiance was not enough,” she said.

Renunciation

On October 20, 2010, she executed before a notary public an ‘affidavit of renunciation of allegiance to the United States of America and renunciation of American citizenship.’

She said this renunciation was sufficient for her to qualify for her appointive office at the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board and her elective office at the Senate.

On July 12, 2011, she executed before the Vice Consul at the US Embassy in Manila an Oath/Affirmation of Renunciation of Nationality of the United States. The US Vice Consul, on  December 9, 2011, issued to Poe a Certificate of Loss of Nationality of the United States.

“Said Certificate attests that under U.S.A. laws, Respondent lost her U.S.A. citizenship effective 21 October 2010, which is when she had taken her oath of office as Chairperson of the MTRCB,” she said.

“Therefore, respondent actually twice renounced her U.S.A. citizenship before she filed her certificate of candidacy for senator on October 2, 2012,” she added.

Forum shopping

Poe said David was guilty of forum shopping as he filed before the Commission on Elections Law Department an affidavit-complaint raising exactly same issues as those he already raised with his petition before SET.

“Even if the case before the Comelec is a criminal complaint, while the instant Petition is for quo warranto, there is still forum shopping because the very same issues have been lodged by Petitioner before two tribunals. He has therefore brooked the possibility of conflicting decisions,” she said.

She added that David did not inform SET of the complaint he filed a case before the Comelec.

Poe further said the petition should be summarily dismissed as it was filed over two years beyond the period prescribed by SET which is 10 days after the proclamation.

‘No form and substance’

She also said the petition lacked form and substance as it does expressly allege that she is disqualified because neither of her parents is a Filipino.

“Other than stating his (David) legal conclusion that respondent is disqualified, the Petition states no more than that there is ‘no proof upon which to conclude that her father or mother is a Filipino citizen, so as to make her a Filipino citizen at birth’,” Poe said.

Poe also said that David’s claim that she was born stateless because she was a foundling has no basis. She said the Constitution and international law protects a child from being stateless.

She further said she reached the required two-year residency for a senator.

Poe said that she returned to the Philippines in May 2005, pulled out her children from their US schools, sold their Virginia residence in April 2006. She said her husband resigned from his US

employment immediately after the sale and his return to the Philippines thereafter in May 2006.

She said their intention to stay in the country was proven by the enrollment of her children in Philippine schools starting in June 2005, her reacquisition of natural-born Filipino citizenship, her simultaneous filing of derivative R.A. No. 9225 petitions for her children, her acquisition of Bureau of Internal Revenue taxpayers identification number, her registration as a voter and continuous residence in the country, her renunciation of US citizenship, her acceptance of the MTRCB post, and her candidacy for the Senate.

Contempt

Poe said David should be held in direct contempt for “willful and deliberate forum shopping” and should be punished with a fine of P2,000 and imprisonment of 10 days.

David should also be cited in direct contempt for failure to inform SET of the filing and pendency of his affidavit-complaint before the Comelec and should be punished with a fine of P30,000 and imprisonment of six months, said Poe.

“Impose on petitioner double or treble costs, pursuant to Rule 85 of the SET Rules, for filing a frivolous petition for quo warranto against respondent,” the senator added. -NB, GMA News