Poe V COMELEC Digest

Poe-Llamanazares vs.
Comelec
Facts:
Petitioner Mary Grace Natividad S. Poe-Llamanzares was found abandoned as a

newborn infant in the Parish Church of Jaro, Iloilo on Sept. 3, 1968. After
passing the parental care and custody over petitioner by Edgardo Militar to
Emiliano Militar and his wife, she has been reported and registered as a
foundling.
When the petitioner reached the age of five (5), celebrity spouses Ronal Allan
Kelley (aka Fernando Poe, Jr) and Jesusa Sonora Poe (aka Susan Roces) filed a
petition foe her adoption. The trial court granted their petition and ordered that
her name be changed to Mary Grace Natividad Sonora Poe.
She left for the United States (U.S.) in 1988 to continue her studies after enrolling
and pursuing a degree in Development Studies at the University of the
Philippines. She graduated in 1991 from Boston College where she earned her
Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Studies.
In 2006, She took her Oath of Allegiance to the Republic of the Philippines
pursuant to RA No. 9225 or the Citizenship retention and Re-acquisition Act of
2003; she filed a sworn petition to reacquire Philippine citizenship together with
petitions for derivative citizenship on behalf of her three children which was
granted. She registered as a voter; secured Philippine passport; appointed and
took her oath as Chairperson of the MTRCB after executing an affidavit of
Renunciation of American citizenship before the Vice Consul of the USA and was
issued a Certificate of Loss of Nationality of the USA in 2011.
In 2012, she filed with the COMELEC her Certificate of Candidacy (COC) for
Senator for the 2013 Elections wherein she answered “6 years and 6 months” to
the question “Period of residence in the Philippines before May 13, 2013.”
Petitioner obtained the highest number of votes and was proclaimed Senator on
16 May 2013.
On 15 October 2015, petitioner filed her COC for the Presidency for the May
2016 Elections. In her COC, the petitioner declared that she is a natural-born
citizen and that her residence in the Philippines up to the day before 9 May 2016
would be ten (10) years and eleven (11) months counted from 24 May 2005. The
petitioner attached to her COC an “Affidavit Affirming Renunciation of U.S.A.
Citizenship” subscribed and sworn to before a notary public in Quezon City on
14 October 2015.
Petitions were filed before the COMELEC to deny or cancel her candidacy on the
ground particularly, among others, that she cannot be considered a natural-born
Filipino citizen since she cannot prove that her biological parents or either of
them were Filipinos. The COMELEC en banc cancelled her candidacy on the
ground that she was in want of citizenship and residence requirements, and that
she committed material misrepresentations in her COC.
On certiorari, the Supreme Court reversed the ruling and held (9-6 votes) that
Poe is qualified as a candidate for Presidency. Three justices, however, abstained
to vote on the natural-born citizenship issue.
Issue:
WON petitioner committed false material misrepresentations in her 2015 COC as

to the period of residence.
Ruling:
No. Petitioner’s claim that she will have been a resident for 10 years and 11
months on the day before the 2016 elections is true. Petitioner’s entry in the
COC corresponds to a beginning date of May 25, 2005, when she returned for
good from the US, to successfully effect a change in domicile, one must
demonstrate an actual removal or an actual change of domicile; a bona fide
intention of abandoning the former place of residence and establishing a new
one, and definite acts which correspond to that purpose.
Petitioner presented evidence showing that she and her family abandoned their
US domicile and relocated to the Philippines for good, such as:
1. Passport entry showing arrival on May 24, 2005 and her return to the PH
every time she travelled abroad
2. Correspondences regarding the shipment of their properties to the PH
3. School records of her children in PH schools starting June 2005
4. Tax Declarations and titles to properties in the PH
5. Sale of their US home
6. Questionnaire from the SU Embassy showing that petitioner stated that
she was a PH resident since May 2005
COMELEC attested that there was no animus non-revertendi. Argued that the
stay of an alien former Filipino cannot be counted unless he acquires a
permanent resident visa or reacquires citizenship.
However, it should be noted that the cases that the COMELEC rely on have only
sparse evidence on residence. In contrast, the evidence in the case at bar is
overwhelming and shows no other conclusion that she decided to permanently
abandon her US residence.
As to the 2012 COC entry, which mentioned that the petitioner had been a
resident for 6 years and 6 months, she explained that she misunderstood the
date requirement as the period of residence as of the day she submitted that
COC in 2012. There was thus an acknowledgement that the previous form of the
COC was vague. It was GAD for the COMELC to treat the 2012 COC as a binding
and conclusive admission against petitioner. In Romualdez-Marcos v COMELEC,
the Court ruled that it is the fact of residence, not a statement in the COC that
is decisive in determining fulfillment of the residency requirement. Petitioner was
in good faith and also did not appear to have hidden anything. In her Answer in
the SET proceedings on September 01, 2015, she admitted that she
misunderstood the residency requirement in the 2012 COC. She filed her 2015
COC on October 15. There must be evidence that there was a deliberate intent
to mislead, misinform, or hide a fact that would otherwise render a candidate
eligible.
The Supreme Court also emphasized the difference in terms of qualifications for
Senatorial candidacy v. Presidential Candidacy. The former can be found under
Sections 2-4, Article VI of the 1987 Constitution.

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Poe-Llamanazares vs.

Petitioner Mary Grace Natividad S. Poe-Llamanzares was found abandoned as a

WON petitioner committed false material misrepresentations in her 2015 COC as

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