THREAT OF CIVIL UNREST NOT HELPING POE’S CANDIDACY ANY -- PIMENTEL
Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr. (PDP-Laban) today said that there is no basis for reports that Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP) standard bearer Fernando Poe, Jr. would be disqualified by the Supreme Court.
There is neither any basis for the report that the opposition will disobey Supreme Court ruling on the issue.
Pimentel suspected that the rumor that the disqualification of Poe on citizenship ground by the SC is already a done deal is being peddled by his political foes as part of their psy-war campaign to incite the anger of Poe’s followers and provoke them into resorting to violent protests.
He said the unfounded report on the high court’s verdict on the case was intended to be a psychological boost to Poe’s enemies after their petition to declare that he is not a natural-born Filipino was twice dismissed by the Commission on Elections En banc and at the first division level.
“As a supporter of Fernando Poe, Jr., I don’t believe that this issue can be resolved by resorting to threat of civil unrest. This problem can only be resolved by upholding the rule of law in an atmosphere of sobriety, fairness and truthfulness,” the opposition senator said.
Pimentel said that while it is the right of Poe’s followers to protest, scenario of civil strife breaking out is far-fetched.
He said he does not think that the Supreme Court will overturn the Comelec decision rejecting the petition to disqualify Poe, in the face of overwhelming evidence that he is a natural-born Filipino.
Pimentel said the petition to disqualify Poe was anchored on the allegation of lawyers Victorino and Andresito Fornier that Poe’s father, Allan Fernando Poe, Sr., was a Spanish citizen and that the young Poe was born out of wedlock and should supposedly adopt the American citizenship of his mother, Bessie Kelly-Poe.
He said the elder Poe’s citizenship was affirmed beyond doubt when it turned out that the documents used in the disqualification case were reportedly doctored by National Archives Director Ricardo Manapat.
And even assuming that Poe was an illegitimate child, Pimentel said this has no effect on his citizenship since when he was born in 1939, the1935 Constitution then in force, provided that children of Filipino fathers, whether legitimate or illegitimate, are Filipinos.
He said Poe had the option to choose the American citizenship of his mother upon reaching the age of 21 but did not do so.
At the same time, Pimentel expressed the hope that the high tribunal’s appointment of four friends of the court or amicus curiae would help authoritatively resolve the issue of Poe’s citizenship.
The four are retired SC Justice Vicente Mendoza, 1986 Constitutional Convention delegate Joaquin Bernas, former University of the Philippines College of Law Dean Merlin Magallona and UP law professor Ruben Balane.
Pimentel noted that Bernas, one of the country’s foremost constitutional experts opined that “an illegitimate child of a Filipino father, if paternity is clear, is a Filipino.”
Bernas, in his column in Today newspaper (January 25, 2004) said:
“The 1935 Constitution, under which he (FPJ) was born clearly said that children born of Filipinos are born Filipinos.
After all the Constitution, in saying that children born of Filipino fathers are Filipinos, does not make a distinction between legitimate and illegitimate children…”
“I am not aware of any Philippine law or jurisprudence which says that the illegitimate child of a foreign woman follows the citizenship of that woman. I have scoured decisions of the Supreme Court from 1901 until the present, and in every instance where the Court said that an illegitimate child follows the citizenship of the mother, the mother was a Filipino.”
Date: February 16, 2004
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