Lawyer insists FPJ not a natural-born Filipino citizen

Although initially cleared to run, actor Fernando Poe Jr. should be disqualified from the presidential race because he is allegedly not a natural-born Filipino citizen, a lawyer insisted yesterday.

Poe is facing two petitions seeking his disqualification – one before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and another before the Supreme Court.

Lawyer Jeanette Tecson, who along with lawyer Felix Desiderio Jr. filed the Supreme Court petition, told a media forum in Quezon City yesterday that documents submitted by Poe’s lawyer - the actor’s birth certificate and the marriage certificate of his parents - to the Comelec and the Supreme Court themselves prove that the political neophyte is not a natural-born citizen, Tecson told reporters in a forum.

Tecson claimed in their petition that Poe is an American citizen.

Citing documents submitted to the Comelec and the Supreme Court by Poe lawyer Estelito Mendoza, Tecson said Poe should have taken the citizenship of his mother because he was born out of wedlock. Poe’s birth certificate stated that he was born on Aug. 20, 1939, and his parents’ marriage certificate stated that they were wed on Sept. 16, 1940, Tecson pointed out.

"Under the old civil code, an illegitimate child automatically followed the name of his mother. In the case of Poe, his mother was an American. Even if he is legitimized after his parents’ marriage, Poe is still not a natural-born citizen and therefore cannot run for president because under the law only natural-born citizens may run for president," Tecson explained.

Poe’s citizenship "did not arise from his birth, not making him a natural-born citizen." Under the old civil code, a child born out of wedlock has to be "acknowledged by his father or the illegitimate child has to file a petition in court to compel his father to acknowledge him so that he could follow his name" and for him to be legitimized.

"Did FPJ (Poe’s initials, as he is popularly known) perform an act that legitimized him and, ergo, he followed his father’s citizenship?" Tecson said.

"Until now there is no evidence that he was recognized by his father and there is no evidence also that he made an act or file a petition in court to compel his father to acknowledge him as his son. FPJ, being born in 1939, is not covered by the New Civil Code which was enacted in 1951."

Even the subsequent marriage of his parents did not automatically make Poe a legitimate child," Tecson said.

"Under Article 121 of the old civil code, the applicable law, legitimation by subsequent marriage occurred only when the natural child has been acknowledged by the parents before or after its celebration," she said.

"Thus, for legitimation to arise, two acts had to occur: acknowledgement and subsequent marriage of the parents. One without the other did not give rise to legitimation; the child, thus, remains illegitimate."

Article 131 of the old Civil Code required that a parent’s acknowledgment of a natural child must be made in a record of birth, in a will, or some other public document," Tecson added.

"If not, Article 135 provided that a case had to be filed in court to compel the father to acknowledge the child. There is no evidence that Poe has been acknowledged in either of the two ways."