By
David Dizon, ABS-CBNnews.com
Is Senator Grace Poe Filipino?
Attorney Katrina Legarda, a law professor and consultant on children's issues, said the case of a foundling after World War II supports Poe's claim that she is a natural-born Filipino.
Speaking to ANC's Headstart, Legarda cited the case of Anthony Hale, a foundling who lost both parents in the Second World War.
She said several Filipinos took care of the boy and tried to get him a Philippine passport. The Department of Foreign Affairs said the Department of Justice must first issue an opinion if the boy could be given a Philippine passport since he is a foundling.
The DOJ then issued an opinion which stated that, following international conventions, a foundling is presumed to have assumed the citizenship of the place where he or she is found.
Since then, the DFA has been issuing Philippine passports to foundlings in the Philippines in recognition of the 1951 DOJ opinion.
Legarda said foundlings in the Philippines cannot travel abroad to adoptive parents if they are not given passports. "Adoption does not give you citizenship. Adoption just makes you a legitimate child of your adopters. Period," she said.
She also noted that actors Fernando Poe Jr. and Susan Roces could not have adopted Grace if she was not a natural-born Filipino because domestic law does not allow adoption of foreign children.
"The courts cannot have jurisdiction over foreigners when it comes to adoption proceedings," she said.
Legarda said it is now up to critics to prove that Poe is not a natural-born Filipino.
THE OSMEÑA CASE
In the interview, the lawyer also disputed losing senatorial bet Rizalito David's claim that Poe is considered stateless not because she is a foundling but because she lost her US citizenship and did not regain her Filipino citizenship.
"Well, that's kinda impossible. The Declaration of Human Rights, which came out in 1948, which we are a signatory, does not want people to be stateless and everyone has a right to nationality. When she took her oath on October 20, 2010, she reacquired the Filipino citizenship she had prior to when she married which is natural born. She retained and has always retained her natural- born Philippine citizenship. (She never lost it?) No, parang dual citizenship," Legarda said.
She cited the case of another prominent politician, the late President Sergio Osmena, who also married an American. This meant that their sons were dual citizens because the father was Filipino and the mother was American.
She said the Supreme Court even ruled that Emilio 'Lito' Osmena could stay as governor of Cebu even though he is a dual citizen. Osmena ran for president in 1998 but lost to Joseph Estrada.
In Poe's case, Legarda said it was only natural for her to assume the citizenship of her husband since his business was abroad.
Poe, however, decided to return to the Philippines after her father's death in December 2004 and said she would stay.
Legarda said Poe enrolled her children in Philippine schools, took a job in her father's business and even bought a house and lot.
"You cannot do that if you are not a Filipino citizen...If she bought a house and lot, she was a dual Filipino at the very least," she said.
LOSING US CITIZENSHIP
The lawyer said she sees no problem with Poe using her American passport until 2009 even though she had a Filipino passport.
"Sometimes, it is just easier," she said.
She also rebuffed David's claim that Poe only lost her US citizenship in the last quarter of 2012 based on the US Registry. David has claimed Poe cannot sit as senator because she does not fulfill the residency requirement of two years for a sitting senator.
Legarda said that under American law, a person can lose his or her US citizenship by voluntarily performing "an act with intent" such as accepting the post of chairwoman of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board.
She noted that it takes time for government agencies to come out with updated information.
"When she took her oath, she already lost her US citizenship. Automatic. The publication of that could take two years," Legarda said.
The lawyer said the residency requirement should not be confused with citizenship.
She said that while Poe lost her US citizenship in 2010, the latter was already staying in the Philippines in 2004.
"She has been here at least 11 years in residence because their kids are here. And that was when she told me: 'I'm going back, attorney, to live here because my mother is alone,'" she said.
THE RIGHTS OF FOUNDLINGS
Legarda said she cannot understand why Poe's foundling status is even an issue.
"Really? Is it your fault that you are born?" she said.
"What? The child flew in all along and dropped? Appeared just like the Holy Virgin Mary?"
She said some people do not give importance to foundlings because they do not understand that foundlings would soon become adults.
"If you really believe that foundlings have no citizenship at birth, that means that no foundling can be a lawyer, can be a doctor, can be a broadcast journalist because you have to be natural-born citizens. You cannot take advantage of public school education. It is not just politicians. The foundling has to have the citizenship, natural born, of the place where she was found," she said.
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