Reposted from Manila Bulletin.
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Congressional candidate in marinduque disqualified
By Raymund F. Antonio
Published: April 5, 2013
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has disqualified Regina Reyes, daughter of
Marinduque Governor Carmencita Reyes, from running as congresswoman in next month’s
midterm elections.
Reyes is running as representative of the lone congressional district in Marinduque.
In its 13-page decision, the Comelec First Division ruled that Reyes is not eligible to run for public
office in the province for being an American citizen.
The ineligible candidate was declared as such also for her failure to meet the one-year residency
requirement for candidates.
“Thus, a Filipino citizen who becomes naturalized elsewhere effectively abandons his domicile of
origin,” the Comelec said in a resolution signed by Commissioners Lucenito Tagle and Christian
Robert Lim of the First Division.
“In this case, there is no showing whatsoever that respondent (Reyes) had already re-acquired
her Filipino citizenship… so as to conclude that she has regained her domicile in the Philippines.
There being no proof that respondent had renounced her American citizenship, it follows that she
has not abandoned her domicile of choice in the United States of America,” the poll body
stressed.
The Comelec ruled that the American citizenship of Reyes was evident based on her previous
travels to the US from October 14, 2005 to June 30 2012, using her United States passport
No. 306278853.
The Comelec decision stemmed from the petition filed by Joseph Tan, a resident of Torrijos,
Marinduque, to cancel Reyes’ certificate of candidacy for making several false representations
in her COC.
Tan claimed that Reyes stated in her COC that she was born June 3, l964, when some pertinent
records showed that her date of birth was July 8, 1959, while others stated that she was born on
July 3, 1960.
The petitioner added that Reyes failed to renounce her American citizenship.
He said Reyes violated Section 6, Article VI of the Constitution and Section 74 of the Omnibus
Election Code (OEC) since a candidate seeking for a congressional post must be a natural-born
Filipino citizen.
He pointed out that “Reyes did not apply for dual citizenship, and even if she did, there is no
record that she renounced her US citizenship.”
The Liberal Party fielded Reyes as its candidate for representative of Marinduque against
incumbent congressman Lord Allan Jay Velasco of National Unity Party. She is the daughter of
Marinduque Gov. Carmencita Reyes and sister of Toll Regulatory Board Executive Director
Edmundo Reyes, Jr.
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| View in northern Marinduque |
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