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Tuesday, January 20, 2004
FPJ aides call papers against him spurious
MANILA -- A top official at the records division of the National Archives insisted on the veracity of the marriage certificate in their records between Allan F. Poe and a certain Paulita Gomez, which is being used as basis in the disqualification case filed against Fernando Poe Jr. or FPJ.
During the five-hour hearing held at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) session hall Monday, National Archives records division director Ricardo Manapat admitted he assisted Victorino Fornier in finding out if Poe's father, Allan Fernando, and Paulita entered into a marriage contract in 1936.
Manapat said he discovered, while searching the microfilm records at the office, that there was a bigamy case filed against Allan Fernando by Gomez and attached to the document was their marriage contract.
But supporters of the Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP) standard-bearer, led by Senate Minority Floor Leader Vicente Sotto III, accused Manapat of falsifying Poe's records to show that the opposition bloc's candidate is not a Filipino citizen.
Victorino and Andresito Fornier had filed a disqualification case against FPJ, saying he is not qualified to run for president because he is not a Filipino citizen.
Commissioner Rufino Javier, presiding officer of the first division, is giving the petitioners and Poe two days to file their memoranda after which the case would be deemed submitted for resolution.
The Forniers said in their petition that Poe's father was married to Gomez before Bessie Kelly, an American citizen, making FPJ an illegitimate child and who, under the country's laws, would take on his mother's citizenship.
They added that in the remote possibility that the marriage of Poe's parents was valid, the actor takes the citizenship of his father who is Spanish.
They also questioned the conflicting dates on the marriage of Poe's parents, whose contract showed they were married on Jan. 29, 1939 while a document issued by the military placed the date of their wedding on Sept. 16, 1940. The actor's father served in the Philippine Army during the war.
Atty. Andresito Fornier said he has documents showing Poe's father was born in San Carlos City, Pangasinan--not on Nov. 27, 1916 but on May 15, 1916--and where Allan Fernando stated his father Lorenzo Pou, the actor's grandfather, was a Spanish national, while Mestiza Espanola was written in the citizenship entry of Poe's grandmother Martha Reyes.
Lawyer Estelito Mendoza, lead counsel for Poe, presented a certification dated Jan. 13, 2004 issued by Estrella Domingo, head of the reference section, saying "there was no available information" on the marriage of Poe's father and Gomez.
Mendoza presented another document dated Jan. 12, 2004 and also certified by Domingo, saying the archives had no record of the birth certificate of Allan F. Poe.
He said the archives also had no record of Lorenzo Pou, Poe's grandfather, who alleged that he lived in San Carlos City, Pangasinan in 1907.
Mendoza said it is not surprising that Lorenzo Pou had no existing records because even the National Archives admitted it had no records of the arrival of Spaniards in the country during that time.
Asked by Mendoza during cross-examination on the disparity between the certification issued by Domingo and records he presented, Manapat said those who requested the records from Domingo were in a hurry and wanted only to see the catalogues of the physical records.
Manapat said he was able to discover the records requested by the Forniers only recently after a thorough search of the microfilm section.
Pressed by Mendoza, Manapat admitted that President Arroyo appointed him to the National Archives in 2002 and took over as officer-in-charge of the records division only two months ago.
He said the National Archives keeps records of about 80 to 100 million documents, which include passports issued in 1820 to 1828, baptismal certificates issued in 1796 to 1902, resettlement or immigration papers from 1827 to 1898 and notarial records from 1674 to 1907.
Manapat was an officer in the records division of the National Archives from 1996 to 1998 but deposed President Joseph Estrada removed him in 1999 due to alleged negligence.
Senator Sotto alleged Manapat has pending graft cases and disallowances amounting to P83 million.
The senator is urging the Senate to investigate the alleged fabrication by Manapat of documents used in questioning the citizenship of the KNP standard-bearer.
"Fabrication of documents, particularly of public documents in this instance, is a serious cause for alarm not only because this means there is tampering committed inside the very government office tasked to have custody of all public documents, but also because such fraudulent acts can thwart the will of the people by preventing them from voting for their choice in the coming elections," Sotto said.
According to Sotto, Manapat allegedly fabricated the documents that lawyer Victorino Fornier used in petitioning against the candidacy of Poe.
At least eight personnel of the division can attest to the alleged fabrication of documents, according to Sotto. He added that the eight staff members are willing to testify in the investigation.
(January 20, 2004 issue)
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