MANILA, 18 September 2003 — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said yesterday it was relaxing the requirement for Filipino emigrants who wish to reacquire Philippine citizenship.
Commissioner Florentino Tuason Jr. said all it takes for a former natural-born Filipino to reacquire his or her Philippine citizenship is to take an “oath of allegiance” before an official in the Philippine embassies or consulates in the country where they are residing.
Tuason said the Comelec is setting aside the other requirement, which is the presentation of a duly authenticated birth certificate from the National Statistics Office (NSO), to enable those qualified for dual citizenship to also catch up with the registration for absentee voters, which ends on Sept. 30. He said the requirement was being eased because he realized that obtaining a duly certified birth certificate from the NSO may take some time.
After all, Tuason said, “I feel this is one of the intentions of the law.”
Tuason made the announcement during a briefing for Secretary Heherson Alvarez, presidential adviser on overseas Filipino communities, on Republic Act 9225, or the Citizenship Retention and Reacquisition Act of 2003.
The briefing was conducted jointly by the Comelec, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Tuason said, however, that the “oath of allegiance” for dual citizenship would be separate from that for absentee voters.
Catherine Maceda, vice chair of the Overseas Absentee Voting Secretariat, said that substitute documents (in lieu of the NSO certificate) will be the applicant’s expired Philippine passport, naturalization certificate from the host country, and the passport issued by that host country.
The Comelec said that individuals applying as absentee voters will still be required to execute an affidavit of intent to return and resume actual physical permanent residence in the Philippines.
This same requirement had served as a stumbling block for Filipino migrant workers especially in the United States and Canada from registering for the Philippine’s first absentee voting exercise for Overseas Filipinos, which is scheduled for May 2004.
But the dual citizenship law signed by President Gloria Arroyo on Aug. 29 was thought to have cured this deficiency.
RA 9225 was a pet measure of Senate President Franklin Drilon, who said it should allow Filipinos abroad who had lost their citizenship to be more keen on investing in the Philippines.
The bill reinstates former natural-born Filipinos who have embraced foreign citizenship out of necessity, mostly due to legal requirements of host countries, as Philippine citizens.
Drilon said RA 9225 amended Commonwealth Act No. 63 to allow Filipinos abroad the “opportunity to progress economically and socially in their adopted countries, without being placed under the pain of bring stripped of their Philippine citizenship once they become naturalized citizens of other countries and, in the process, be considered aliens in their own homeland.”
“The passage of this bill is an affirmation that the Filipino people embrace our Filipino brothers abroad and that we highly appreciate their continued contribution in keeping our economy afloat,” Drilon explained on the day President Arroyo signed the law.
During the briefing, Secretary Alvarez asked the DOJ, the agency in charge of citizenship issues, to form a body that will oversee the proper implementation of RA 9225, which have no accompanying Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR).
“There should be someone to take charge of this and keep all the records, to issue the oaths and keep track of those that have been made. They should also issue a proper certificate because the dual citizen cannot carry a copy of the sworn oath all the time,” Alvarez said.
