Marinduque bet can't run
- Published : Sunday, May 12, 2013 00:00
- Article Views : 424
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THE Commission on Elections is set to promulgate until tomorrow its en banc decision that denied “for lack of merit” the motion for reconsideration of Regina Ongsiako Reyes, who had been disqualified as a congressional candidate for the lone district of Marinduque.
On March 27, the Comelec’s first division declared Reyes ineligible to run for Congress for being an American citizen and for lack of the one-year residency required for candidates to an elective office.
Reyes filed a motion for reconsideration of the first division’s ruling to the Comelec en banc.
Ruling on Reyes’ motion, the Comelec en banc said:
“The Resolution of the First Division of this Commission is a result of a tedious evaluation of the claims and defenses brought about by the two contending parties in the case at bar. After an evaluation of the arguments presented, the Commission (First Division) declared the CoC (certificate of candidacy) of the respondent (Reyes) as cancelled. This, We dare not disturb.”
“Wherefore, premises considered, the Motion for Reconsideration is hereby denied for lack of merit. The March 27, 2013 Resolution of the Commission (First Division) is hereby affirmed,” the Comelec en banc ruled.
In its decision disqualifying Reyes as a congressional candidate, the Comelec’s first division ruled that “a Filipino citizen who becomes naturalized elsewhere effectively abandons his domicile of origin.”
Reyes is the daughter of Marinduque Gov. Carmencita Reyes and the sister of former congressman Edmundo Reyes Jr.
In the case of Reyes, the poll body said that “there is no showing whatsoever that respondent (Reyes) had already re-acquired her Filipino citizenship… so as to conclude that she has regained her domicile in the Philippines, and there being no proof that respondent had renounced her American citizenship, it follows that she has not abandoned her domicile of choice in the United States of America.”
The Comelec’s first division ruled that Reyes is an American citizen as evidenced by her use of a United States passport No. 306278853 in her travels to the US since October 14, 2005 up to June 30 2012.
It also said that Reyes was admitted to the California State Bar in 1995, maintained a US address, married an American citizen but the marriage was subsequently dissolved, and acquired properties and established businesses in the US.
Records showed that there is no US law that automatically grants US citizenship to the Filipino who is married to a US citizen. The Filipino must first be naturalized.
According to the Comelec, Reyes may re-acquire her Filipino citizenship and become eligible for public service if she would “take the oath of allegiance to the Republic of the Philippines before the consul-general of the Philippine Consulate in the US and make a personal and sworn renunciation of her American citizenship before any public officer authorized to administer an oath.”
But the Comelec said that “in the instant case, there is no showing that respondent (Reyes) complied with the requirements” for the re-acquisition of Filipino citizenship.
“This the respondent utterly failed to do, leading to the conclusion inevitable that respondent falsely misrepresented in her certificate of candidacy (COC) that she is a natural born Filipino citizen,” it said.
“Unless and until she can establish that she had availed of the privileges of RA 9225 by becoming a dual Filipino-American citizen, and thereafter, made a valid sworn renunciation of her American citizenship, she remains to be an American citizen and is, therefore, ineligible to run for and hold any elective public office in the Philippines,” the Comelec ruled.
The disqualification petition against Reyes was filed by Joseph Socorro B. Tan, a registered voter and a resident of Torrijos, Marinduque.
Aside from her American citizenship and for lack of the required residency, Tan alleged that Reyes made several misrepresentations in her CoC like her civil status and her date of birth.
“Wherefore, in view of the foregoing, the instant petition is granted. Accordingly, the Certificate of Candidacy of respondent Regina Ongsiako Reyes is hereby cancelled,” the Comelec ruled.
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