Manila’s Abante gets House seat; rival disqualified
Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr. — Photo from House of Representatives
MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has annulled the proclamation of Joey Chua Uy as the congressman-elect of Manila’s sixth district in the May 12 elections because he is not a natural-born Filipino citizen.
Voting unanimously, the poll body’s Second Division disqualified Uy and declared his lone opponent, Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr., as the winner in the congressional race. Uy, a candidate of Aksyon Demokratiko, garnered 64,746 votes compared to 63,358 for Abante, who sought reelection under the National Unity Party.
The case, however, can still be appealed to the Comelec en banc, which must rule on it before June 30, when reelected and newly elected House representatives assume office. After the said date, all election contests and disqualification cases will be solely decided by the House of Representatives’ Electoral Tribunal.
In a statement on Thursday, Abante said the poll body’s decision “sets an important precedent … Our people deserve leaders whose allegiance to the country is beyond question and whose qualifications are beyond doubt.”
“The Constitution is clear: only natural-born Filipino citizens are qualified to serve in Congress. The Comelec ruling reaffirms this fundamental requirement and protects the integrity of our democratic institutions,” he added.
Questions raised
On May 23, Abante urged the poll body to recall Uy’s proclamation, raising questions about his being a natural-born citizen, one of the requirements to become a member of the House of Representatives under the 1987 Constitution.
Uy was born on March 15, 1962, in Manila to a Chinese father who became a naturalized citizen five years after the birth of his son. Being a minor upon his father’s naturalization, Uy was extended Filipino citizenship via the naturalization law.
Uy’s mother, on the other hand, is a Filipino citizen although she was deemed, under the 1935 Constitution, to have lost her Filipino citizenship after her marriage to Uy’s father, making her a Chinese citizen. She regained her Filipino citizenship after Uy was born.
Void from the start
In response to Abante’s petition, Uy said he was a natural-born citizen under the 1987 Constitution, which recognized as natural-born Filipinos those who elected for Philippine citizenship upon reaching the age of majority, regardless of whether they made their choice before or after the 1973 Constitution took effect.
In its 19-page ruling issued on Wednesday, the Comelec’s Second Division said that Uy committed material misrepresentation in his certificate of candidacy by falsely declaring that he was a natural-born Filipino citizen and declared his certification of candidacy as void ab initio (from the start).
It concluded that Uy is “at most a naturalized citizen” and therefore ineligible to run for Congress under Section 6, Article VI of the 1987 Constitution, which mandates that “no person shall be a Member of the House of Representatives unless he is a natural-born citizen of the Philippines.”
The ruling stems from Abante’s petition, citing evidence showing that Uy, born in 1962 to Chinese citizen parents, only acquired Philippine citizenship after his father was naturalized in 1967.
Uy was later issued an identification certificate by the Bureau of Immigration as a result of his father’s naturalization.
“A natural-born citizen acquires citizenship by birth, without the need for any act or proceeding. Mr. Uy’s case clearly required legal processes under naturalization laws, disqualifying him from ever being considered natural-born,” the Second Division said.
