CASE DIGEST : CORDORA VS TAMBUNTING

G.R. No. 176947               February 19, 2009

GAUDENCIO M. CORDORA, Petitioner, 

vs.

COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS and GUSTAVO S. TAMBUNTING, Respondents.

FACTS : In his complaint affidavit filed before the COMELEC Law Department, Cordora asserted that Tambunting made false assertions. Cordora stated that Tambunting was not eligible to run for local public office because Tambunting lacked the required citizenship and residency requirements.

To disprove Tambunting’s claim of being a natural-born Filipino citizen, Cordora presented a certification from the Bureau of Immigration which stated that, in two instances, Tambunting claimed that he is an American: upon arrival in the Philippines on 16 December 2000 and upon departure from the Philippines on 17 June 2001. According to Cordora, these travel dates confirmed that Tambunting acquired American citizenship through naturalization in Honolulu, Hawaii on 2 December 2000. Cordora concluded:

The COMELEC Law Department recommended the dismissal of Cordora’s complaint against Tambunting because Cordora failed to substantiate his charges against Tambunting. Cordora’s reliance on the certification of the Bureau of Immigration that Tambunting traveled on an American passport is not sufficient to prove that Tambunting is an American citizen.

The COMELEC En Banc affirmed the findings and the resolution of the COMELEC Law Department. The COMELEC En Banc was convinced that Cordora failed to support his accusation against Tambunting by sufficient and convincing evidence.

Cordora filed a motion for reconsideration which raised the same grounds and the same arguments in his complaint. In its Resolution promulgated on 20 February 2007, the COMELEC En Banc dismissed Cordora’s motion for reconsideration for lack of merit.

ISSUE : WON there is Probable Cause to Hold Tambunting for Trial for Having Committed an Election Offense

HELD : Probable cause constitutes those facts and circumstances which would lead a reasonably discreet and prudent man to believe that an offense has been committed. Determining probable cause is an intellectual activity premised on the prior physical presentation or submission of documentary or testimonial proofs either confirming, negating or qualifying the allegations in the complain

Tambunting does not deny that he is born of a Filipino mother and an American father. Neither does he deny that he underwent the process involved in INS Form I-130 (Petition for Relative) because of his father’s citizenship. Tambunting claims that because of his parents’ differing citizenships, he is both Filipino and American by birth. Cordora, on the other hand, insists that Tambunting is a naturalized American citizen.

We agree with Commissioner Sarmiento’s observation that Tambunting possesses dual citizenship. Because of the circumstances of his birth, it was no longer necessary for Tambunting to undergo the naturalization process to acquire American citizenship. The process involved in INS Form I-130 only served to confirm the American citizenship which Tambunting acquired at birth. The certification from the Bureau of Immigration which Cordora presented contained two trips where Tambunting claimed that he is an American. However, the same certification showed nine other trips where Tambunting claimed that he is Filipino. Clearly, Tambunting possessed dual citizenship prior to the filing of his certificate of candidacy before the 2001 elections. The fact that Tambunting had dual citizenship did not disqualify him from running for public office.

To begin with, dual citizenship is different from dual allegiance. The former arises when, as a result of the concurrent application of the different laws of two or more states, a person is simultaneously considered a national by the said states. For instance, such a situation may arise when a person whose parents are citizens of a state which adheres to the principle of jus sanguinis is born in a state which follows the doctrine of jus soli. Such a person, ipso facto and without any voluntary act on his part, is concurrently considered a citizen of both states

Dual allegiance, on the other hand, refers to the situation in which a person simultaneously owes, by some positive act, loyalty to two or more states. While dual citizenship is involuntary, dual allegiance is the result of an individual’s volition.

in Sections 2 and 3 of R.A. No. 9225, the framers were not concerned with dual citizenship per se, but with the status of naturalized citizens who maintain their allegiance to their countries of origin even after their naturalization.12 Section 5(3) of R.A. No. 9225 states that naturalized citizens who reacquire Filipino citizenship and desire to run for elective public office in the Philippines shall "meet the qualifications for holding such public office as required by the Constitution and existing laws and, at the time of filing the certificate of candidacy, make a personal and sworn renunciation of any and all foreign citizenship before any public officer authorized to administer an oath" aside from the oath of allegiance prescribed in Section 3 of R.A. No. 9225. The twin requirements of swearing to an Oath of Allegiance and executing a Renunciation of Foreign Citizenship served as the bases for our recent rulings in Jacot v. Dal and COMELEC,13 Velasco v. COMELEC,14 and Japzon v. COMELEC,15 all of which involve natural-born Filipinos who later became naturalized citizens of another country and thereafter ran for elective office in the Philippines. In the present case, Tambunting, a natural-born Filipino, did not subsequently become a naturalized citizen of another country. Hence, the twin requirements in R.A. No. 9225 do not apply to him.

Cordora concluded that Tambunting failed to meet the residency requirement because of Tambunting’s naturalization as an American. Cordora’s reasoning fails because Tambunting is not a naturalized American. Moreover, residency, for the purpose of election laws, includes the twin elements of the fact of residing in a fixed place and the intention to return there permanently,16 and is not dependent upon citizenship.

In view of the above, we hold that Cordora failed to establish that Tambunting indeed willfully made false entries in his certificates of candidacy. On the contrary, Tambunting sufficiently proved his innocence of the charge filed against him. Tambunting is eligible for the office which he sought to be elected and fulfilled the citizenship and residency requirements prescribed by law.