Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — The Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) has zeroed in on the issue whether Sen. Grace Poe — being a foundling — is a natural-born Filipino.
Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice and SET Chairman Antonio Carpio said on Monday (September 21) during the oral arguments on Poe’s disqualification case that the senator is not a natural-born Filipino but a naturalized citizen.
He pointed out, Poe — in order to be recognized a natural-born Filipino — has to establish that her parents are Filipino citizens.
Related: Poe speaks about adoption, recalls facing discrimination as a foundling
Under the Article IV of the 1987 Constitution, natural-born citizens are those who are citizens of the Philippines from birth without having to perform any act to acquire or perfect their Philippine citizenship and those whose parents are Filipinos.
According to Carpio that in the absence of clear legal guidelines on the status of foundlings, the international customary law can be adopted.
“You are still naturalized citizen, you are not natural born, correct? Because if international customary law says you are deemed to be natural born, it will violate our own constitution and we cannot apply it here,” Carpio explained.
On the other hand, Poe’s counsel Atty. Alexander Poblador doesn’t agree with Carpio’s position
“It’s not correct. We’re not placing Grace Poe under that category. We’re placing her under the category of children of father or mother is a Filipino,” he said.
Carpio said any decision on citizenship is never final and it can always be questioned.
“If there is an adverse decision that you are natural-born and you cannot show who your parents are as of today. If tomorrow you happen to find out by DNA matching that your parent is Filipino, you can still prove that you are natural-born,” Carpio said.
Poe’ counsel told the tribunal the senator has submitted to DNA testing two weeks ago to trace her biological parents and to prove her lineage is Filipino.
Carpio said the DNA results “will solve all the problems” before the tribunal.
Both the petitioner and the respondent are asked to submit their memorandum before the tribunal. After that the case is deemed submitted for resolution.
