SC voids deportation, orders release of elderly Fil-Am

The Supreme Court (SC) en Banc has voided the deportation and ordered the immediate release of a 73-year-old Filipino-American who had been wrongfully detained in the Philippines for seven years as an overstaying alien.

In a 32-page decision promulgated in December 2023 but only released on Wednesday, the SC voided the Bureau of Immigration (BI) deportation order against Walter Manuel Prescott, ruling that he is a natural-born Filipino.

The high court said Prescott should not have been detained in the first place.

"He deserves to be set free since long ago. In fact, he should not have been deprived of his liberty and be treated as an overstaying alien in the first place," the SC decision read.

"For he is, indeed, a natural-born Filipino. His actions, more than words, eloquently speak of the decision he made in electing Filipino citizenship immediately upon reaching the age of 21," it added.

Prescott was born to an American father and Filipino mother on April 10, 1950. Under the 1935 Constitution — which was prevailing at the time of his birth — biracial citizens born to Filipino mothers follow their father's citizenship. They may choose to be Filipinos when they become 21 years old.

Following his permanent employment in the World Bank in Washington D.C. in July 1999, Prescott was naturalized as an American citizen in August 2006. Prescott applied for the reaquisition of his Philippine citizenship in November 2008, which the Philippine Embassy in America granted.

Reaquiring Filipino citizenship

In 2012, his wife complained to the Bureau of Immigration (BI) that Prescott illegally reacquired his Philippine citizenship under Republic Act 9225 or the Dual Citizenship Act.

The Department of Justice (DOJ), under the recommendation of the BI, cancelled Prescott's certificate for reacquisition in 2013. Prescott, however, said that he only learned of the matter when he renewed his Philippine passport in 2014.

Prescott sent a letter-request to the DOJ to be furnished a copy of the case file but was told the resolution was final and executory.

In 2015, the BI charged Prescott for allegedly misrepresenting himself as Filipino and for fraudulently indicating in his application for Philippine passport that his father was Filipino. His name was placed under the BI watchlist and was arrested in 2016 under a deportation order.

Prescott filed a petition for declaratory relief with petition for habeas corpus before the Manila Regional Trial Court in 2019, asking to be declared a Philippine citizen and that he be released from detention.

The Manila court and Prescott elevated his case to the Court of Appeals (CA). However, the CA denied his petition in 2021, ruling that he was never a natural-born Filipino since he was born under the 1935 Constitution and had failed to elect his Philippine citizenship upon reaching 21.

Prescott then elevated the case before the Supreme Court.

'Love, fealty' to the Philippines

In its decision, the SC reversed the CA's ruling and noted that the Oath of Allegiance executed by Prescott in 2008 upon reacquiring his Philippine citizenship complies with the requirements under Commonwealth Act 625.

"For what he has not formally spoken or written in words when he reached the age of 21, and years thereafter, he unequivocally expressed through his consistent and deliberate actions throughout the course of his entire life, which totally evince of his loyalty, love and fealty to the Philippines,” the Court said.

The high tribunal also said that the BI proceedings and DOJ resolution were void ab initio as these violated his right to due process since he only learned about the complaint when he sought to renew his Philippine passport.

Further, the SC said that the BI has no jurisdiction to deport Prescott as "he is not an alien but a natural-born Philippine citizen."

"The Bureau is devoid of any legal basis to hold him in detention," the SC said.

"Prescott has been detained for seven years now. He is already 73 years old and suffering from several medical conditions. His only wish is to spend his remaining years in the country which he has always considered his home and his motherland," the Supreme Court ruled. — VDV, GMA Integrated News