Yasay: I had ‘naturalization certificate’ from US

Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay. MARIANNE BERMUDEZ/INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Aside from a US passport, Foreign Secretary   Perfecto Yasay Jr. admitted on Tuesday  having  been issued a  “naturalization certificate”  by the US.

“Oh yeah, I did not only have a US passport, I had a naturalization certificate which I all returned to the authorities,”  Yasay said in an interview at the Senate.

But during his  confirmation hearing  at the Commission on Appointments’ committee on  foreign affairs   last February 22,  the official  repeatedly denied that he became  an  American citizen and that he had a US passport.

“When I had applied for naturalization , at that time my application for naturalization was given due course…I was not qualified because at that time I already had plans to abandon my permanent residency in the US to return to the Philippines .This was in Nov 1986,”  Yasay then told the CA panel.

“And in 1987 of January, few months thereafter, I, in fact, abandoned my permanent residency in the US that rendered me under the laws not qualified to become a US citizen. On that basis, I have never acquired legal status as a US citizen and I have issued the necessary affidavits for this purpose, admitting my disqualification that I submitted early on to the American authorities…” he said.

READ: Yasay admits naturalization try, but insists he isn’t US citizen

Despite this,  Yasay  insisted that he  never lied under oath before the CA.

“I’ve been hearing talks about people saying I lied. I’d like to assure everyone that I have never lied in my testimonies and I will continue and reiterate on the same statements that I’ve made,”  he  said.

Yasay remained hopeful that he could get the approval of the CA, which  is set to deliberate on his confirmation  on  Wednesday.

“I may have difficulty but I hope I would able to surmount that difficulty but I would hope that everyone would be fair in not accusing me of lying because I never lied. I have admitted everything that I’ve said and that’s the only thing that I’ll make,” the official added./rga