FACTS: Respondent Teodoro Cruz was a natural-born citizen of the Philippines.
He was born in San Clemente, Tarlac, on April 27, 1960, of Filipino parents.
The fundamental law then applicable was the 1935 Constitution. On November 5,
1985, however, respondent Cruz enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and
without the consent of the Republic of the Philippines, took an oath of
allegiance to the United States. As a Consequence, he lost his Filipino
citizenship for under Commonwealth Act No. 63, section 1(4), a Filipino citizen
may lose his citizenship by, among other, "rendering service to or accepting
commission in the armed forces of a foreign country.” He was naturalized in US
in 1990. On March 17, 1994, respondent Cruz reacquired his Philippine
citizenship through repatriation under Republic Act No. 2630. He ran for and
was elected as the Representative of the Second District of Pangasinan in the
May 11, 1998 elections. He won over petitioner Antonio Bengson III, who was
then running for reelection.
ISSUE: (1) W/N respondent Cruz is a natural born citizen of the Philippines in
view of the constitutional requirement that "no person shall be a Member
of the House of Representative unless he is a natural-born citizen.” (2) W/N
HRET acted with grave abuse of discretion when it dismissed the petition “despite
the fact that such reacquisition could not legally and constitutionally restore
his natural-born status.”
HELD:
(1) NATURAL-BORN CITIZEN. Respondent is a natural born citizen of the
Philippines. As distinguished from the lengthy process of naturalization, repatriation
simply consists of the taking of an oath of allegiance to the Republic of the
Philippine and registering said oath in the Local Civil Registry of the place
where the person concerned resides or last resided. This means that a
naturalized Filipino who lost his citizenship will be restored to his prior
status as a naturalized Filipino citizen. If he was originally a natural-born
citizen before he lost his Philippine citizenship, he will be restored to his
former status as a natural-born Filipino.
(2) NO ABUSE OF DISCRETION. The
HRET has been empowered by the Constitution to be the "sole judge" of
all contests relating to the election, returns, and qualifications of the
members of the House. The Court's jurisdiction over the HRET is merely to check
"whether or not there has been a grave abuse of discretion amounting to
lack or excess of jurisdiction" on the part of the latter. In the absence
thereof, there is no occasion for the Court to exercise its corrective power
and annul the decision of the HRET nor to substitute the Court's judgement for
that of the latter for the simple reason that it is not the office of a
petition for certiorari to inquire into the correctness of the assailed
decision.
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