C.

CITIZENSHIP AND DOMICILE

Militar reported to the Office of the Local Civil Registrar that the infant was found and she was
1. Romualdez-Marcos v COMELEC, 248 SCRA 300 given the name Mary Grace Natividad Contreras Militar
FACTS: The Municipal Court of San Juan, Rizal promulgated the Decision granting the Petition for Adoption
When Imelda was 8 years old, her domicile was in Tacloban, Leyte where she studied and of Senator Poe by Spouses Fernando Poe, Jr. and Susan Roces
graduated high school.  She then pursued her college degree in Tacloban.  Subsequently, she taught Senator Poe executed an Oath/Affirmation of Renunciation of Nationality of the United States
still in Tacloban.  After 14 years, she went to manila to work with her cousin’s office in the House of To repeat, Respondent never used her USA passport from the moment she renounced her
Representatives.  In 1954, 2 years after, she married late President Ferdinand Marcos when he was American citizenship on 20 October 2010. She remained solely a natural-born Filipino citizen from
still a Congressman of Ilocos Norte and was registered there as a voter.  5 years later, when Pres. that time on until today. WHEREFORE, in view of the foregoing, the petition for quo warranto (legal
Marcos was elected as Senator in 1959, they lived together in San Juan, Rizal where she registered proceeding where individual’s right to office) is DISMISSED.
as a voter.  In 1965, when Marcos won presidency, they lived in Malacanang Palace and registered David moved for reconsideration
as a voter in San Miguel Manila.  She served as member of the Batasang Pambansa and Governor of Petitioner asserts that private respondent is not a natural-born citizen and, therefore, not qualified
Metro Manila during 1978. to sit as Senator of the Republic, chiefly on two (2) grounds. First, he argues that as a foundling
whose parents are unknown, private respondent fails to satisfy the jus sanguinis principle: that is,
After 17 years, Imelda Romualdez-Marcos wanted to run for the position of Representative of Leyte that she failed to establish her Filipino "blood line," which is supposedly the essence of the
for the 1995 Elections.  Cirilo Roy Montejo, the incumbent Representative of Leyte and also a Constitution's determination of who are natural-born citizens of the Philippines. Petitioner insists
candidate for the same position, filed a “Petition for Cancellation and Disqualification"  with the that as private respondent was never a natural-born citizen, she could never leave reverted to
Commission on Elections alleging that petitioner did not meet the constitutional requirement for natural-born status despite the performance of acts that ostensibly comply with Republic Act No.
residency.  The petitioner, in an honest misrepresentation, wrote seven months under residency, 9225, otherwise known as the Citizenship Retention and Re-acquisition Act of 2003.
which she sought to rectify by adding the words "since childhood" in her Amended/Corrected ARGUMENTS OF THE PETITIONER:
Certificate of Candidacy filed and that "she has always maintained Tacloban City as her domicile or Poe does not fall under any of the classes of natural-born citizens enumerated in Sec. 1, Art. IV,
residence.  She arrived at the seven months residency due to the fact that she became a resident of 1987 Constitution
the Municipality of Tolosa in said months. To be a natural-born citizen, one’s parents must be Filipino citizens. Poe cannot claim natural-born
ISSUE:  status as her parents are not known and cannot be presumed as Filipino citizens.
Whether petitioner has satisfied the 1year residency requirement to be eligible in running as The provisions of the 1930 Hague Convention on Certain Questions Relating the Conflict of
representative of the First District of Leyte. Nationality Laws and the 1961 UN Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness are not applicable
HELD: because the Philippines hasn’t agreed yet to both Convention.
Residence is used synonymously with domicile for election purposes.  The court are in favor of a The effect of the adoption is to confer unto her legitimate status not her citizenship
conclusion supporting petitoner’s claim of legal residence or domicile in the First District of Leyte ARGUMENTS OF THE RESPONDENT:
despite her own declaration of 7 months residency in the district for the following reasons: As early as the 1935 Constitution, it was always the intention of the framers to consider foundlings
1.  A minor follows domicile of her parents.  Tacloban became Imelda’s domicile of origin by found in the Philippines as Filipino citizens.
operation of law when her father brought them to Leyte;  Poe invokes Art. 7 of the UN Convention on Rights of Child and Art. 24 of the International
2.  Domicile of origin is only lost when there is actual removal or change of domicile, a bona fide Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Both treaties are ratified by the Philippines.
intention of abandoning the former residence and establishing a new one, and acts which These treaties create an obligation on the part of the Philippines to recognize a foundling as its
correspond with the purpose.  In the absence and concurrence of all these, domicile of origin citizen from the time of the foundling’s birth.
should be deemed to continue.   Although neither the ICCPR nor the UNCRC was in force when she was born, each may apply
3.  A wife does not automatically gain the husband’s domicile because the term “residence” in Civil retroactively to the date of her birth. To rule otherwise would be to discriminate against foundlings
Law does not mean the same thing in Political Law.  When Imelda married late President Marcos in born before the ratification of these treaties.
1954, she kept her domicile of origin and merely gained a new home and not domicilium Poe invokes Art. 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which recognizes the right of
necessarium.   everyone to a nationality.
Poe invokes Art. 14 of the 1930 Hague Convention on Conflict of Nationality Laws. The presumption
2. David vs. SET and Grace Poe, G.R. No. 221538, September 20, 2016 that a foundling is a citizen of the State in which she is found is a generally accepted principle of
FACTS: international law.
Senator Mary Grace Poe-Llamanzares (Senator Poe) is a foundling whose biological parents are Poe invokes Art. 2 of the UN Convention on Statelessness which expresses a rebuttable
unknown. As an infant, she was abandoned at the Parish Church of Jaro, Iloilo. Edgardo Militar presumption of descent from a citizen, consistent with jus sanguinis.
found her outside the church. He later turned her over to Mr. and Mrs. Emiliano Militar. Emiliano Finally, Poe argues that she validly reacquired her natural-born status pursuant to R.A. No. 9225.
ISSUE:
C. CITIZENSHIP AND DOMICILE

Whether Grace Poe is eligible to sit as a Senator of the Republic.

HELD:
From the deliberations of the 1934 Constitutional Convention on citizenship, it was never the
intention of the framers to exclude foundlings from natural-born citizenship status.
“Children or people born in a country of unknown parents are citizens of this nation” and the only
reason that there was no specific reference to foundlings in the 1935 provision was that these
cases “are few and far in between.”
Evident intent was to adopt the concept found in the Spanish Code “wherein all children of
unknown parentage born in Spanish territory are considered Spaniards, because the presumption is
that a child of unknown parentage is the son of a Spaniard.”
Under Art. 14 of the Hague Convention of 1930 (on Conflict of Nationality Laws), a foundling is
presumed to have been born on the territory of the State in which it was found until the contrary is
proved.
Although the Philippines is not a signatory to said convention, its provisions are binding as they
form part of the law of the land pursuant to the incorporation clause.
Hence, foundlings (children born in the Philippines with unknown parentage) were, by birth,
accorded natural-born citizenship by the Constitution.
“natural-born citizens by legal fiction”
The framers of the Constitution were sufficiently empowered to create a class of natural-born
citizens by legal fiction, as an exception to the jus sanguinis rule
This is evident from Art. 1 (State to determine who are its nationals) and Art. 2 (questions on
nationality to be determined by the law of that State) of the 1930 Hague Convention
Poe validly reacquired her natural-born Filipino citizenship upon taking her Oath of Allegiance to
the Republic, as required under Section 3, R.A. No. 9225
Before assuming her position as MTRCB Chairman, Poe executed an affidavit of renunciation of
foreign citizenship. This was sufficient to qualify her for her appointive position, and later, her
elective office as R.A. No. 9225 did not require that her Certificate of Loss of Nationality filed before
the U.S. Embassy be first approved in order that she may qualify for office.
Records of the Bureau of Immigration show that Poe still used her U.S. passport after having taken
her Oath of Allegiance but not after she has renounced her U.S. Citizenship.