Chinoys hit ruling vs mayor

A Chinese-Filipino civic leader accused the Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday of being "anti-Chinese" for disqualifying Naga City Mayor Jesse Robredo from running in the May 14 elections due to his Chinese ancestry.

Speaking at a media forum at Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan, Teresita Ang See said it was sad that the Comelec ruling showed discrimination against Filipinos of Chinese origin.

"How can a Jesse Robredo, a Ramon Magsaysay awardee from the Philippines, who was born, bred and educated as a Filipino, elected for five terms and performed spectacularly as a mayor, finally be disqualified from his mayorship at the last minute because of his Chinese ancestry?" she asked.

Ang See, spokeswoman for the Citizens Action Against Crime and the Chinese-Filipino civic group Kaisa Para sa Kaunlaran, said the Comelec decision had manifested the commissioners’ "ignorance of the law."

"Your move to suddenly and whimsically disqualify Naga City Mayor Jesse Robredo needs a lot of explaining to us, the Filipino people, and to your own conscience," she said.

"Next, are we Filipinos going to be asked to disclaim our national heroes for being of Chinese descent too?"

During the forum, Ang See distributed an open letter which she had written to the Comelec chairman and commissioners.

"On his father’s side, Robredo is a natural citizen of the Philippines by virtue of the Treaty of Paris of 1898," she said.

"On his mother’s side, Robredo is also a natural born citizen by virtue of the citizenship provision in the 1987 Constitution, which made it clear that those born of Filipino mothers before the 1973 Constitution are considered natural born citizens.

"More than that, both the 1973 and 1987 Constitutions have corrected the gray areas and shortcomings of the previous Charters about who is a natural born citizen."

Ang See said Robredo has always held a Filipino passport, voted in Philippine elections, and has no first-hand experience of China.

"Though he acknowledges and is proud of his Chinese ancestry, his love, loyalty, sacrifice and service to the Philippines and our people cannot be discounted or doubted," she said.

Ang See singled out two Comelec commissioners as having questionable knowledge of the law and qualification as commissioners in coming out with their ruling.

"How can anyone who obviously fails to understand the citizenship provisions in the 1973 and 1987 Constitutions, and I specifically refer to Brawner and Ferrer, qualify as election commissioners?" she asked.

"If there is anyone who deserves to be disqualified, it is Brawner and Ferrer, who deliberately ignored and circumvented the truth."

Ang See said the two commissioners were law school classmates and law firm partners of the Villafuertes, the political opponents of Robredo in Camarines Sur.

"The only explanation is that they are, after all, classmates and/or partners of Robredo’s rival in Bicol— the Villafuertes— who could not make a comeback while Robredo is there," she said.

"It is a sacrilege to our Constitution, and it further erodes our people’s confidence in the Comelec, which has been badly shaken recently, if after proving himself more Filipino than many Filipinos, Mayor Robredo is disqualified."

"We hope that the remaining commissioners have some decency and integrity left to act on the case based on its merits and not based on political considerations."