Principle on foundlings need not be ratified by most states —Poe counsel

Generally accepted principles of international law may include international statutes that were signed even by a minority of states, the counsel for Senator Grace Poe told the Supreme Court on Tuesday.

Pressed by Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio that The Hague convention that accorded foundlings the citizenship of the country they were found in was signed by only a small percentage of the League of Nations and later by a smaller percentage of the United Nations, Attorney Alexander Poblador said it could still form part of general practice in international law.

"General practice does not mean majority," Poblador told the court.

"Can general practice be 11 percent?" Carpio asked after saying that only 11 percent of the UN members in 1968—the year Poe was born—signed The Hague convention.

"Yes. If it is extensive, over a wide area, and is representative. Furthermore, your Honor, I think the Supreme Court has not interpreted generally accepted principles of international law only as international customary law," Poblador said.

"The Supreme Court also considers principles in treaties to which the Philippines is not a party as generally accepted principles of international law if they are aligned with certain basic principles in our Constitution like the right to equality," he added.

Poe is arguing before the Supreme Court that she is a natural-born Filipino citizen according to generally accepted principles of international law that accord foundlings natural-born status. —NB/JST, GMA News