Senator Grace Poe. PRIB FILE PHOTO
The DNA test that presidential candidate Sen. Grace Poe underwent with possible relatives could determine her lineage and, in turn, the nationality of one of her parents.
The results could then put to rest any question about Poe’s status as a natural-born Filipino citizen qualified to run for the highest post in the land, said Poe’s lawyer, George Garcia.
There is jurisprudence stating that DNA results can be considered conclusive and are admissible as evidence in court, the lawyer added.
But even without the DNA test, Garcia said that Poe remains a natural-born Filipino. The test, he added, was not necessary for them to defeat the disqualification case brought against Poe by Rizalito David, a defeated 2013 senatorial candidate.
As a foundling, Poe is presumed to be a citizen of the country where she was found, her lawyer said.
Garcia explained that Poe was natural-born because she did not undergo a process to become a naturalized citizen. Only foreigners undergo the naturalization process to become Filipinos, he added.
“She did not need to perform any act to acquire her Filipino citizenship,” the lawyer said, adding that Poe had decided to undergo the DNA testing to put closure to the issue of where she came from.
According to sources close to the Poe family, as a newborn, Poe was left in an Iloilo church and was later adopted by movie couple Fernando Poe Jr. and Susan Roces.