Thursday, April 26, 2007 Jonkie rivals question his listing as voter
IS Thadeo Jovito “Jonkie” Ouano qualified to be a registered voter of Mandaue City?
Lawyer Briccio Boholst, counsel for the camp of Ouano’s rival Jonas Cortes, said yesterday that Ouano failed to meet the requirements in the Omnibus Election Code.
The law states: “Every citizen of the Philippines, not otherwise disqualified by law, 18 years of age or over, who shall have resided in the Philippines for one year and in the city or municipality wherein he proposes to vote for at least six months immediately preceding the election, may be registered as a voter.”
Ouano reportedly registered as a voter in June 2006.
He cancelled his Alien Certificate of Registration in January 2006 and renounced his American citizenship in April 2006.
Prior to that, Boholst said, Ouano was a permanent resident of the United States or a resident alien of the Philippines.
“How could he have registered as a voter?” he told Sun.Star Cebu in an interview yesterday afternoon.
Ouano replied through a text message saying that even his opponent knows he will not be disqualified because of his achievement and performance in the private sector.
Ouano also said he complied with all requirements before he filed his certificate of candidacy. He criticized Cortes for having not done anything in his years as councilor.
Voter
In his petition filed at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to dismiss Cortes’ move to have him disqualified, Ouano pointed out that he is a registered voter as approved by Mandaue City Election Officer Ferdinand Gujilde last June 6, 2006.
He also said he has been a resident of Mandaue for more than a year before the May 14 polls. He was a consultant on barangay affairs of the office of his father, Mayor Thadeo Ouano.
While Ouano claims that he has been in Mandaue since 1999 as a dual citizen, Boholst doesn’t think so.
Boholst said Ouano was still in the process of re-acquiring his Filipino citizenship then, as the cancellation of the Alien Certificate of Registration and the issuance of the identification certificate number are only parts of the process.
Boholst said Ouano had to take an oath to get back his Filipino citizenship and have it recorded at the Local Civil Registrar and the National Statistics Office.
Suit
Zoilo Cortes, uncle of mayoral candidate Jonas, asked the Comelec to declare Ouano ineligible to run for mayor and cancel his certificate of candidacy because of his citizenship.
He also asked Comelec to compel Ouano to pay P2 million in damages and attorney’s fees and to instruct the board of election inspectors and board of canvassers not to count any votes cast for Ouano.
In case the petition is not resolved before election day, Zoilo asked election officials to exclude votes for Ouano.
There is no document with the Bureau of Immigration in Cebu to show that Ouano is an American citizen.
However, BI 7 Director Geronimo Rosas said he received reports that Jonkie’s records are with their central office in Manila because under the Philippine Immigration Act of 1940, only the Board of Commissioners can approve and sign these documents.
Based on the information he received, Rosas said Ouano applied for dual citizenship a long time ago and he is qualified to run for any elective post.
Under the law, Rosas said a Filipino can be an American at the same time if one of his parents is an American.
Aside from the United States, Rosas said the Philippines also has bilateral agreements with Canada, Australia, Japan and some European countries for dual citizenship.
Dual
Before that, Rosas said, a Filipino who became a naturalized American citizen should renounce his US citizenship before he can run for any elective post in the Philippines.
Rosas said this was why the popular seven-term governor Juan Frivaldo of Sorsogon was unseated by the Supreme Court after he won in the 1992 and 1995 elections, because there was no dual citizenship law during his time.
Rosas said that even if Ouano has applied for dual citizenship with BI 7, all records of his application will be forwarded to the Board of Commissioners.
The US Embassy in the Philippines is also keeping records of dual citizens.
In an earlier interview, Ouano said he has been in Cebu since 1999 and that he only returned to the United States in 2002 for two weeks when he got married.
He went to the United States in 1993 as an immigrant based on his mother’s petition. He stayed for at least five years, which helped him gain citizenship.
Based on his oath of renunciation, Ouano was a national of the United States “by virtue of naturalization” granted by the US District Court of the Central District in California on Oct. 29, 1999.
The renunciation of his American citizenship was subscribed and sworn to on April 28, 2006 at the US Embassy in Manila. (AAG/EOB)
