Aquinas University

COLLEGE OF LAW
Legazpi City

Legal Writing

Victoria Denise M. Monte

LLB I-E

Atty. Edelyn Ventura

Subject Professor
____________________________________________________________________________

October 14, 2015

Senator Mary Grace S. Poe-Llamanzares

Room 525 GSIS Bldg., Financial Center
Roxas Blvd., Pasay City

Dear Senator:

This legal opinion seeks to answer your question as to whether or not you are valid to
run in the 2016 Presidential Elections for the position of the President in connection with the
qualifications regarding your citizenship and residency.

The Facts

Based on our discussion and the documents that you have shown me, the following are
the relevant facts:

On September 3, 1968, a certain Edgardo Militar found you in the Parish of Jaro in Iloilo
and said date became your date of birth in documents. And on May 13, 1947, the petition of
your adoptive parents, Jesusa Sonora Poe and Ronald Allan Kelley Poe was approved by the
Municipal Court of San Juan.

On July 27, 1991, you got married to your husband, Mr. Neil Llamanzares. On October
18, 2001, you became a citizen of the US after being petitioned by your husband who is a dual
citizen and when you took an oath of allegiance to the US, you renounced your Philippine
citizenship.

However, while still being a US citizen, you began your residency in the Philippines
starting year 2005. And on July 7, 2006, you re-acquired your Filipino citizenship by taking an
Oath of Allegiance to the Republic of the Philippines through RA 9225 (Citizenship Retention
and Reacquisition Act of 2003) and became a dual citizen when the Bureau of Immigration
issued your Identification Certificates.

On October 6, 2010, President Benigno Aquino III appointed you as chairperson of the
Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) so you signed an “Affidavit of
Renunciation of Allegiance to the United States of America and Renunciation of American
Citizenship,” on October 20, 2010, before a notary public in Pasig City for you to be able to take
the offered position.

On July 12, 2011, you executed before the Vice Consul at the US Embassy in Manila an
Oath/Affirmation of Renunciation of Nationality of the United States.

On December 9 2011, your Certificate of Loss of Nationality of the US was signed by the
Vice Consul. In this document, it was stated that you “expatriated yourself” on October 21, 2010,
when you took an oath of office as MTRCB chair. The certificate of loss of nationality was,
however, “approved” by the State Department only in 2012.

The Applicable Laws

The constitution that shall govern your citizenship shall be the 1935 Constitution, as you
were born, according to the documents, on September 3, 1963.

Under Article IV, Section 1 of the 1935 Constitution:

SECTION 1. The following are citizens of the Philippines:

(1) Those who are citizens of the Philippine Islands at the time of the adoption
of this Constitution.
(2) Those born in the Philippine Islands of foreign parents who, before the
adoption of this Constitution, had been elected to public office in the
Philippine Islands.
(3) Those whose fathers are citizens of the Philippines.
(4) Those whose mothers are citizens of the Philippines and, upon reaching
the age of majority, elect Philippine citizenship.
(5) Those who are naturalized in accordance with law.

Under the constitution, natural-born Filipinos are defined as those citizens of the
Philippines from birth without having to perform any act to acquire or perfect their Philippine
citizenship.

The Applicable Jurisprudence

In the case of BENGSON III VS HRET, the Supreme Court held repatriation results to
the recovery of the original nationality. Thus, that a naturalized Filipino who lost his citizenship
will be restored to his prior status as a naturalized Filipino citizen and a natural-born citizen will
be restored to his former status as a natural-born Filipino.

This jurisprudence would apply to your case as you have married an alien, considering
your husband has dual citizenship, and repatriation consists of taking of an oath of allegiance to
the Republic of the Philippines and registering said oath.

Analysis and Conclusion

The 1935 Constitution confers Filipino citizenship to those that are qualified in the
situations enumerated under the provision. However, said provision failed to provide governing
rule in case of foundlings.

There would be certain international treaties that have been deemed as a customary
international law that could apply to your case. However, as the Philippines is not a signatory to
such treaties and such treaties are contrary to the provisions in the Constitution regarding
citizenship, such cannot be invoked nor can the applied.

Hence, your status as a natural-born citizen of the Philippines is and would be a

question until your filiation to your biological parents is established. This in turn, would affect
your repatriation, as your original citizenship is in question.

Regarding your residency, your stay in the Philippines since 2005, despite being a US
citizen at the time you began your residency would qualify you for the 10-year residency
requirement as the residency does not look into a person’s nationality or citizenship.

Recommendation

The only way to prove your status as a natural born, and prove you as a valid candidate
for the presidency, would be to establish your filiation to your biological parents. Since the only
way to be a natural-born citizen is to have Filipino parents, the proof that your parents or at least
your father is a Filipino citizen would validate your status as a natural-born. If such status would
be proved, this would also confer upon you the status of being natural-born in relation to your
act of repatriation.

I appreciate the opportunity to advise you regarding this matter. Please let me know if
you would like to discuss any of these issues further. Thank you.

Yours faithfully,

Atty. Victoria Denise M. Monte