Citizen

Angelito David finally found the money required to file a case with the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) questioning the citizenship of Sen. Grace Poe-Llamanzares. He needed P50,000 for the filing fee and another P10,000 as cash bond.

Immediately after the filing of the case, both the mainstream press and social media overflowed with speculation over David’s “true” motivation. That speculation is misplaced. Motivation is not the issue here; citizenship is.

It is wrong to begin considering the issues by imputing malice on David’s petition. There seems, at least to David and several others, enough legal issues that require some sort of judicial proceeding. It is always good to resolve outstanding legal issues.

I do not know David personally  –  although I must have voted for him to become senator. I recall voting for all the candidates of Kapatiran. I like the spunk of these valiant underdogs. They dare the odds to challenge the traditional political class.

David did the right thing by taking all the issues floating around the candidates and submitting them for proper adjudication. Citizens abiding by the rule of law should do that simply as a matter of civic duty.

Our Constitution has very strict requirements in qualifying those who want to lead this nation. There are grey areas in particular cases, such as this one involving Senator Poe. Those grey areas may be reduced by the precedents set by way of rulings in particular cases.

I can offer no opinion on the legal issues surrounding Poe’s standing as a natural-born citizen or whether she fulfills the residency requirements. I am not competent to do that. There are enough lawyers offering differing arguments on the issues. It is the SET now tasked to resolve them authoritatively.

The first beneficiary of an authoritative resolution of the citizenship issues should be Grace Poe herself. If David had not filed what he did, Poe’s camp should have taken the initiative to have these issues resolved. They cannot be left hanging over her potential candidacy for the highest office in the land. The effect could only be deleterious.

The first victim of an adverse ruling will, of course, be Poe herself. An adverse ruling will be fatal to whatever political plans she nurtures.

If the issues are decided in her favor, however, that will clear the way for her candidacy. No more doubts will hound her, no fear a great electoral enterprise might be undermined on a technicality.

The sooner the SET decides on the issues raised by the David petition, the better. There are enough individuals and groups ready to jump onto the bandwagon for Citizen Grace.

Un-citizen

We hope it does not take the SET to act on the David petition as it has taken DOJ Secretary Leila de Lima to act on the matter of the citizenship of one Joseph Cue Sy. The business community has been watching the progress of this case with a great deal of interest.

The citizenship of Mr. Sy attracts some interest because he is involved in large-scale mining enterprises. He is the registered owner of Global Ferronickel Holdings and Platinum Group Metals Corporation. Our Constitution imposes strict nationality requirements on extractive industries like mining.

Unlike Grace Poe, who might aspire to be president, Mr. Sy does not have to be a “natural-born” citizen. He just has to be a citizen.

The Philippine Stock Exchange did declare him to be a citizen. But the stockbrokers are not the proper magistrates on this matter.

The NBI looked into the matter. The investigating agents found some interesting discrepancies.

The Quezon City civil registrar says Sy was born October 10, 1966 in Novaliches. That information is based on his Affidavit of Late Registration of Birth dated December 28, 2007.

Travel records show Sy acquired a Filipino passport on February 13, 2001. That seems suspicious because Sy was able to acquire a birth certificate only in 2007.

Sy claims his parents were married in Balanga, Bataan in 1964. The municipality’s records are intact and there is no entry regarding that marriage.

Sy likewise claims he was baptized in 1966 at Christ the King Parish by Fr. Antonio Abuan. The NBI, however, found out this particular priest served in the parish only from 1997 to 1999. More remarkable, the church where he was supposed to have been baptized was built only in 1991.

Stranger things follow.

The NBI submitted its findings to the Bureau of Immigration (BI) and recommended deportation. February 6 this year, the BI dismissed the deportation case for lack of jurisdiction. From the point of view of the BID, the matter needed to be settled in court.

Rebuked by the BI, the NBI submitted its findings to DOJ Secretary de Lima for action. It has remained on her desk since.

As in the case of Grace Poe, the citizenship issue raised against Sy should deserve prompt action -–simply because the Constitution is very strict in its requirements. Acting on the citizenship issue is a matter of civic dictate.

No one might really care if Grace Poe is a natural-born citizen or not, except that she could become President of the Republic and the Constitution sets down requirements to become one.

No one might really care if Joseph Cue Sy is a citizen or not as long as his business is well run and the national economy benefits from it. But the Constitution, whether we agree or not, imposes strict nationality requirements for extractive industries.

What the Constitution says should matter.