ADMNISTRATIVE LAW | MAQUILING VS. COMELEC G.R. NO. 195649, APRIL 16, 2013

MAQUILING VS. COMELEC

G.R. NO. 195649, APRIL 16, 2013

 

TOPIC/DOCTRINE

While those who acquire dual citizenship by choice are afforded the right of suffrage, those who seek election or appointment to public office are required to renounce their foreign citizenship to be deserving of the public trust. Holding public office demands full and undivided allegiance to the Republic and to no other.

 

FACTS

Rommel Arnado is a natural bon Filipino citizen who lost his citizenship upon his naturalization as an American citizen. Subsequently, he renounced his American citizenship and ran as a Mayor of Lanao del Norte. After he was proclaimed the winner, the COMELEC anulled such proclamation and consequently directed that the order of succession under the Local Government Code be followed. Maquiling, another candidate for mayor, and who garnered the second highest number of votes in the election intervened the case, claims that he should be proclaimed as the winner. 

 

ISSUE

Whether Arnedo is disqualified.

Whether Maguiling should succeed Arnedo.

 

RULING

Yes.

The court ruled that while those who acquire dual citizenship by choice are afforded the right of suffrage, those who seek election or appointment to public office are required to renounce their foreign citizenship to be deserving of the public trust. Holding public office demands full and undivided allegiance to the Republic and to no other. The citizenship requirement for elective public office is a continuing one. It must be possessed not just at the time of the renunciation of the foreign citizenship but continuously. Any act which violates the oath of renunciation opens the citizenship issue to attack. When a person who is not qualified is voted for and eventually garners the highest number of votes, even the will of the electorate expressed through the ballot cannot cure the defect in the qualifications of the candidate. To rule otherwise is to trample upon and rent asunder the very law that sets forth the qualifications and disqualifications of candidates.

Here, the court ruled 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. The disqualifying circumstance affecting Arnado is his citizenship. Arnado was both a Filipino and an American citizen when he filed his certificate of candidacy. He was a dual citizen disqualified to run for public office based on Section 40(d) of the Local Government Code; The affirmation of Arnado’s disqualification, although made long after the elections, reaches back to the filing of the certificate of candidacy.

No.

The court ruled that Arnado is declared to be not a candidate at all in the May 2010 elections. When there are participants who turn out to be ineligible, their victory is voided and the laurel is awarded to the next in rank who does not possess any of the disqualifications nor lacks any of the qualifications set in the rules to be eligible as candidates.







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