David files second poll case vs Poe, wants her jailed

By: Tina G. Santos - 9 years ago

By: Tina G. Santos | Philippine Daily Inquirer

Rizalito David, a defeated senatorial bet in the 2013 elections, shows a copy of his complaint filed in the Comelec’s law department on Monday, Aug. 17, 2015, against Senator Grace Poe for alleged material misrepresentation. INQUIRER/MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

Sen. Grace Poe on Monday faced possible criminal charges in the Commission on Elections (Comelec) over her citizenship and residency that impose a penalty of up to six years imprisonment.

Rizalito David, who earlier filed a disqualification case against Poe in the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET), went to the Comelec law department, accusing Poe of “material misrepresentation” in the certificate of candidacy (COC) she filed in 2013 in the Comelec.

Poe is not a natural-born citizen, had failed to comply with the two-year residency requirement for senatorial candidates, and was ineligible “for the office she sought” in 2013, according to David, who ran for a Senate seat under the Catholic-based Ang Kapatiran party and lost.

“The gravamen of the offense is material misrepresentation. As [Poe] misrepresented her citizenship, her period of residence and her eligibility to run for senator, these transgressions should be penalized accordingly,” David said in the 20-page affidavit-complaint he filed in the Comelec law department.

“I’m not praying that she goes to jail. But if she is imprisoned as a consequence of her actions, then so be it,” he added.

“I don’t take pleasure in doing this. This is an issue of rule of law,” David told reporters, insisting that he was doing this on his own, without the help of any party or individual, since this action in the Comelec did not require a filing fee.

David was only able to file the petition in the SET after he managed to produce the required P50,000 filing fee with the help of his friends whom he described as private individuals and not politicians.

Own initiative

“This is my own initiative. The only powerful entity behind me are the people,” David told reporters at the Comelec on Monday.

He added that the complaint filed in the Comelec, once found to have probable cause, may be taken up before a higher court.

Asked to react on the possibility that he may be accused of “forum shopping,” David said the nature of the cases filed in the Comelec and in the SET were different.

He explained that the case filed in the SET was simply a challenge for her to justify that she should continue sitting as a senator.

In the Comelec complaint, David particularly pointed at the material facts Poe declared in her COC, including her statement of being a natural-born Filipino citizen, her period of residence in the Philippines before May 13, 2013, and her being eligible for the office she sought to be elected to.

“All these are false, hence, she is liable to have violated Section 262 in relation to Section 74 of the Omnibus Election Code (OEC). She shall be penalized under Section 263 and 264 of the OEC,” David said.

Foundling

According to him, Poe is a child with no known parents at birth, which the law classifies as a “foundling.”

Poe was abandoned in a church in Jaro, Iloilo province, before she was adopted by the late action star Fernando Poe Jr. and actress Susan Roces.

“Being a foundling, her parents are not known and cannot be presumed Filipino citizens, hence she cannot claim or acquire the status of a natural-born citizen….The reported circumstances of her birth yield no proof upon which to conclude that her father or mother is a Filipino citizen, so as to make her a Filipino citizen at birth,” David said.

He said Poe became an American citizen in 2001 and reacquired her Filipino citizenship in 2006.

“This is in fact null and void because she is not qualified to apply for reacquisition of Filipino citizenship she being not a natural-born Filipino … hence she remained an American, and her domicile remained in the United States of America,” he added.

“Can a foreigner, or in the case of Poe, an American, acquire residence synonymous with domicile in the Philippines? She certainly cannot. Being an American citizen, she cannot acquire domicile in the Philippines,” David said.

And with two false statements, the petitioner said there was no doubt that Poe erred in declaring that she was eligible to run for senator in the 2013 polls, which she topped, getting more than 20 million votes.

Not a natural

“By these facts, it is clear that she was not eligible to run for senator, having failed the required qualifications,” David said.

Article VI, Section 3 of the 1987 Constitution provides that “no person shall be a Senator unless he is a natural-born citizen of the Philippines and, on the day of the election, is at least 35 years of age, able to read and write, a registered voter, and a resident of the Philippines for not less than two years immediately preceding the day of the election.”

Under Section 74 of the OEC, the COC is considered a sworn statement by the person filing it to announce his/her candidacy for a particular public office.

A violation of the said provision can be considered an election offense, which carries a penalty of one to six years of imprisonment, disqualification to hold public office and deprivation of the right of suffrage.