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Friday, February 13, 2004
SC taps 4 'friends' for FPJ citizenship issue
By Benjamin B. Pulta
MANILA -- Four legal experts have been named by the Supreme Court (SC) as amici curiae or friends of the court to attend oral arguments next week on petitions seeking the disqualification of Fernando Poe Jr. from the presidential race because of his alleged doubtful citizenship.
The SC invited retired SC Justice Vicente V. Mendoza, former Constitutional commissioner Joaquin G. Bernas, former Foreign Affairs undersecretary Merlin Magallona and law professor Ruben C. Balane to appear before the court and present arguments on the legal issues surrounding Poe's citizenship.
Mendoza, who retired last year, has been described by legal sources as having "superior legal intellect" and has espoused the concept of the "Office of the Citizen," a socio-political principle that encourages full use of public rights granted by the Constitution.
Magallona, a former dean of the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Law is a key adviser of Vice President Teofisto Guingona and was a key advocate of the recently passed Absentee Voting Bill, which gave eight million overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) the right to vote.
Law professor Ruben Balane, on the other hand, is a noted expert on civil law.
Bernas, easily the most recognizable name among the four amici, used to be the dean of the Ateneo law school.
In a published comment, Mendoza earlier said "the Constitution does not distinguish between the (children) of a Filipino and does not favor the illegitimate child of a Filipino woman over the illegitimate child of a Filipino man."
Citing a case of a child born to a Vietnamese-Filipino couple, Mendoza said under Philippine law, "no distinction was made about children of Filipino fathers because the 'sanguis' (blood) in 'jus sanguinis' is the same whether it flows from an illicit union or from a licit one. But then, of course, paternity must be proved."
The position could prove crucial for Poe, who claims having obtained his Filipino citizenship from his Spaniard grandfather Lorenzo Pou, who in turn apparently became a Filipino by default after he declined to choose to remain a Spanish citizen when the Treaty of Paris was signed.
One of the petitioners in the suit said Poe should prove that his grandfather opted to be Filipino instead of continuing to be a citizen of Spain.
Poe's lawyer Estelito Mendoza answered Wednesday the two suits filed before the SC questioning his client's qualification to run in the May 2004 polls.
In a 17-page consolidated comment, Poe invoked the Constitution and said it would be premature for the High Tribunal to take up the case.
Through Estelito, Poe said the petitioners in the case have no legal personality to file it since they are not themselves candidates laying claim to the presidency. But only recently, a petition for intervention in the matter had been filed by presidential candidate Raul S. Roco.
Poe said "the jurisdiction conferred upon the Supreme Court (as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal) may only be invoked and exercised after the election and proclamation of the President or Vice President."
(February 13, 2004 issue)
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