Comelec says Alan Peter a Pinoy, junks DQ bid

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday junked the disqualification case of a former Pateros mayor against opposition senatorial candidate Alan Peter Cayetano, who was accused of failing to meet citizenship requirements for electoral bets. Radio station dzBB said the complaint lodged by erstwhile mayor Jose Capco, a political nemesis of Cayetano, failed to prove that the latter lost his Filipino citizenship. The poll body noted in its resolution that even though Cayetano applied for and secured an alien certificate of registration (ACR), this does not mean that he is not a natural-born Filipino. It likewise added that Cayetano had been admitted into the Philippine Bar, won as councilor and vice mayor of Taguig, and was eventually elected as representative of Taguig-Pateros. In an 8-page petition filed before the Comelec last March 8, former Pateros mayor Jose Capco asked the poll body to deny due course to Cayetano's certificate of candidacy. Capco alleged that Cayetano is not a natural-born Filipino citizen and that he made misrepresentation in his certificate of candidacy. The petitioner cited Sec. 3, Article VI of the Constitution, which provides that "no person shall be a senator unless he is a natural-born citizen of the Philippines…". Capco alleged that respondent Cayetano is "in fact an American citizen" who has "willfully and expressly renounced his Filipino citizenship" through a series of acts that "indicate his real allegiance to a foreign country and leaves no doubt as to the manifest character of his renunciation." "Accordingly, someone who has expressly renounced his Philippine citizenship willfully and deliberately…. cannot be elected as a senator, precisely because such a person is not a Filipino citizen as required by law," Capco said in his petition. Earlier, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez raised the issue of Cayetano's fitness to run for senator on the basis of his nationality, saying that based on records available to the DOJ, the candidate is apparently an American citizen. Incidentally, Capco supported Cayetano in the 1998 elections when the latter sought a seat at the House of Representatives. In 2001, however, the former mayor ran against, and lost to Cayetano. Cayetano himself has filed a disqualification case against a namesake, Joselito Pepito Cayetano, who is running under the banner of Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL). - GMANews.TV