Digest - Maquiling vs COMELEC

G.R. No. 195649 April 16, 2013

 
CASAN MACODE MAQUILING, Petitioner,
vs.
COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS, ROMMEL ARNADO y CAGOCO, LINOG G. BALUA, Respondents.
 
PONENTE: Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno
 169th Assoc Justice from Aug 2010 - Aug 2012
 Chief Justice from Aug 2012 - May 2018 appointed by Pres. Aquino
 She was removed from office by way of an 8–6 decision by the Supreme Court over a quo
warranto petition, rendering her appointment as Chief Justice null and void
 Impeached due to issues on integrity. It cited Sereno's alleged failure to properly declare her
Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net worth (SALN) and was also responsible for tax
misdeclarations and unauthorized expenses.
 Senior Justice Antonio Carpio assumed her post
 
FACTS OF THE CASE:
 Respondent Arnado is a natural born Filipino citizen. However, as a consequence of his
subsequent naturalization as a citizen of the United States of America, he lost his Filipino
citizenship
 Arnado applied for repatriation under R.A. 9225 before the Consulate General of the Philippines
in San Francisco, and took the Oath of Allegiance to the Republic of the Philippines on 10 July
2008. On the same day an Order of Approval of his Citizenship Retention and Re-acquisition was
issued in his favor.
 On 28 April 2010, respondent Linog C. Balua (Balua), another mayoralty candidate, filed a
petition to disqualify Arnado and/or to cancel his certificate of candidacy for municipal mayor of
Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte in connection with the 10 May 2010 local and national elections.9
 Respondent Balua contended that Arnado is not a resident of Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte and
that he is a foreigner, attaching a certification issued by the Bureau of Immigration dated 23 April
2010 indicating the nationality of Arnado as "USA-American." Balua also presented in his
Memorandum a computer-generated travel record from 2009 indicating that Arnado has been
using his US Passport in entering and departing the Philippines, records showing trips from April to
November 2009.
 COMELEC (First Division) required the respondent to personally file his answer and
memorandum within 3 days from receipt. After Arnado failed to answer the petition, Balua moved
to declare him in default and to present evidence ex-parte.
 Neither motion was acted upon, having been overtaken by the 2010 elections where Arnado
garnered the highest number of votes and was subsequently proclaimed as the winning candidate
for Mayor of Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte.
 It was only after his proclamation that Arnado filed his verified answer.
 Instead of treating the Petition as an action for the cancellation of a certificate of candidacy
based on misrepresentation, the COMELEC First Division considered it as one for disqualification.
In the matter of the issue of citizenship, the First Division disagreed with Arnado’s claim that he is
 a Filipino citizen, stating that "although Arnado appears to have substantially complied with the
requirements of R.A. No. 9225, Arnado’s act of consistently using his US passport after renouncing
his US citizenship on 03 April 2009 effectively negated his Affidavit of Renunciation." Arnado’s
continued use of his US passport is a strong indication that Arnado had no real intention to
renounce his US citizenship and that he only executed an Affidavit of Renunciation to enable him
to run for office.
 
Ruling of the COMELEC First Division: Amado is disqualified on grounds of consistently using his US
passport after renouncing his US citizenship on April 3, 2009 for it effectively negated his Affidavit
of Renunciation
 
 Arnado sought reconsideration of the resolution before the COMELEC En Banc on the ground
that "the evidence is insufficient to justify the Resolution and that the said Resolution is contrary
to law."
 Petitioner Casan Macode Maquiling, another candidate for mayor of Kauswagan, and who
garnered the second highest number of votes in the 2010 elections, intervened in the case and
filed before the COMELEC En Banc a Motion for Reconsideration together with an Opposition to
Arnado’s Amended Motion for Reconsideration. Maquiling argued that while the First Division
correctly disqualified Arnado, the order of succession under Section 44 of the Local Government
Code is not applicable in this case. Consequently, he claimed that the cancellation of Arnado’s
candidacy and the nullification of his proclamation, Maquiling, as the legitimate candidate who
obtained the highest number of lawful votes, should be proclaimed as the winner.
 COMELEC En Banc held that under Section 6 of Republic Act No. 6646, the Commission "shall
continue with the trial and hearing of the action, inquiry or protest even after the proclamation of
the candidate whose qualifications for office is questioned."
 
Ruling of the COMELEC En Banc: agreed with the First Division on Amado's disqualification, but
granted his motion for reconsideration and qualified him to run for public office.
 
 Maquiling filed the instant petition questioning the propriety of declaring Arnado qualified to
run for public office despite his continued use of a US passport, and praying that Maquiling be
proclaimed as the winner in the 2010 mayoralty race in Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte.
 
ISSUE: Whether or not the use of a foreign passport after renouncing foreign citizenship affects one’s
qualifications to run for public office.
 
RULING: YES. After reacquiring his Philippine citizenship, Arnado renounced his American citizenship by
executing an Affidavit of Renunciation, thus completing the requirements for eligibility to run for public
office. By renouncing his foreign citizenship, he was deemed to be solely a Filipino citizen, regardless of
the effect of such renunciation under the laws of the foreign country.
 
However, this legal presumption does not operate permanently and is open to attack when, after
renouncing the foreign citizenship, the citizen performs positive acts showing his continued possession
of a foreign citizenship. Arnado himself subjected the issue of his citizenship to attack when, after
renouncing his foreign citizenship, he continued to use his US passport to travel in and out of the
country before filing his certificate of candidacy.
 
While the act of using a foreign passport is not one of the acts enumerated in Commonwealth Act No.
63 constituting renunciation and loss of Philippine citizenship, it is nevertheless an act which repudiates
the very oath of renunciation required for a former Filipino citizen who is also a citizen of another
country to be qualified to run for a local elective position.
 
We therefore hold that Arnado, by using his US passport after renouncing his American citizenship, has
recanted the same Oath of Renunciation he took. Section 40(d) of the Local Government Code applies to
his situation. He is disqualified not only from holding the public office but even from becoming a
candidate in the May 2010 elections.
 
Who will take seat as Mayor?
 
With Arnado being barred from even becoming a candidate, his certificate of candidacy is thus rendered
void from the beginning. It could not have produced any other legal effect except that Arnado rendered
it impossible to effect his disqualification prior to the elections because he filed his answer to the
petition when the elections were conducted already and he was already proclaimed the winner.
 
To hold that such proclamation is valid is to negate the prohibitory character of the disqualification
which Arnado possessed even prior to the filing of the certificate of candidacy. The affirmation of
Arnado's disqualification, although made long after the elections, reaches back to the filing of the
certificate of candidacy. Arnado is declared to be not a candidate at all in the May 201 0 elections.
 
Arnado being a non-candidate, the votes cast in his favor should not have been counted. This leaves
Maquiling as the qualified candidate who obtained the highest number of votes. Therefore, the rule on
succession under the Local Government Code will not apply.
 
WHEREFORE, premises considered, the Petition is GRANTED. The Resolution of the COMELEC En Bane
dated 2 February 2011 is hereby ANNULLED and SET ASIDE. Respondent ROMMEL ARNADO y CAGOCO is
disqualified from running for any local elective position. CASAN MACODE MAQUILING is hereby
DECLARED the duly elected Mayor of Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte in the 10 May 2010 elections.
 
 
 
 
DOCTRINE: The use of foreign passport after renouncing one’s foreign citizenship is a positive and
voluntary act of representation as to one’s nationality and citizenship; it does not divest Filipino
citizenship regained by repatriation but it recants the Oath of Renunciation required to qualify one to
run for an elective position.