The Commission of Elections (Comelec) has announced that actor-turned-politician Edu Manzano has been disqualified to run as congressman of San Juan.
The Comelec Second Division said Manzano automatically renounced his Filipino citizenship when he served the United States Armed Forces from 1973 to 1977.
Manzano said he served in the US Armed Forces as a US citizen but he retained his status as a natural-born Filipino citizen.
Manzano, Comelec said, failed to comply with the requirements for reacquisition of his Filipino citizenship under the provisions of Republic Act 2630.
He acquired dual citizenship because he was born of Filipino parents in San Francisco, California, United States in 1955.
There were instances in the past that the issue on his citizenship was questioned.
When he ran for vice mayor of Makati City in 1998, a petition was also filed against his candidacy on the grounds of his citizenship but the Supreme Court declared him a qualified candidate “because he had repudiated his American citizenship when he filed his CoC and that resulted in his sole citizenship as a Filipino.”
Manzano was also allowed to run for Mayor of Makati City in 2001; Vice President in 2010; and senator in 2016.
In a separate resolution, Comelec has allowed Taguig congressional candidate Alan Cayetano to run for congressman at the Taguig City First District.
The poll body acted on the petition filed by Leonedes Buac Jr., who sought Alan’s disqualification by citing that he failed to meet the residency requirement since the Family Code requires a married couple to live in one legal residence.
The poll body said previous Supreme Court rulings provide that a spouse may abandon a family domicile in favor of a domicile of choice, or remain in the place that the spouses have considered their family domicile.
“In this case, Respondent (Alan) has unequivocally declared his intention to remain permanently at Bagumbayan, notwithstanding his claim that he and his wife [Lani] have transferred their family home, whether legally warranted or not, at Two Serendra. It is, therefore, wrong for [the] petitioner to conclude that Respondent’ s domicile is now at Two Serendra merely based on Respondent’s claim that they have transferred their family home there,” the Comelec decision read.
“Respondent cannot be considered to have lost his domicile at Bagumbayan by the mere assertion that his wife transferred her domicile to Two Serendra. Hence, Respondent did not commit false material representation when he declared in his CoC that he is a resident of 209 Paso St., Bagumbayan, Taguig City,” the Comelec added.
Alan’s wife Lani, the current Taguig City mayor, is running for a congressional seat representing Taguig City’s second district.
Alan’s brother, director Lino, on the other hand, is running to replace his sister-in-law Lani as Taguig City mayor.
