An Inquirer columnist pointed out that Sen. Cayetano gave a confirmation on the information provided by the Wikipedia.
Inquirer Columnist Rodel Rodis released a new article focusing on the issue about the citizenship of Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano.
Recently, a video of Sen. Cayetano has crossed the online platform and hooked lots of netizens. In the video, the Senator slammed the article of Inquirer entitled ‘Is Sen. Alan Cayetano a PH citizen?’ and even tagged it as “fake news” and “hatchet job” based on a previous report.
Based on a recent article published in Inquirer, the same columnist who wrote the article about his citizenship published another article entitled Sen. Cayetano confirms Wikipedia report wherein he discussed about the matter further.
According to the article, the Facebook page of the columnist, Rodel Rodis, was then beleaguered by the trolls of the Senator on the social media after the release of his article about a quest on Sen. Cayetano’s citizenship.
The columnist recognized the response of the Senator to his article and laid his correction to the response.
According to him, the headline of the previous article that is related to Sen. Cayetano’s citizenship questioned if he was a citizen of the Philippines and not if he was a citizen of the United States.
The columnist quoted the statement of Sen. Cayetano: “To answer your headline: No I am not an American Citizen; I never chose to be an American Citizen.”
Moreover, the columnist also stated in his article that it is not true that Sen. Cayetano “never chose” to be a citizen of America.
He cited that the ex-mayor of Pateros, Mayor Jose Capco Jr., was able to provide a documentation which presents that Mr. Cayetano “applied and obtained an Alien Certificate of Registration (ACR) asserting that he was an American citizen.”
The columnist also pointed out in his article that the Senator confirmed the information provided by the Wikipedia.
According to Rodis, he cited in his column article the information provided by Wikipedia that Sen. Cayetano “renounced his US citizenship” for the election on 1998 and the admission to the Philippine Bar.
The column writer quoted the response of the Senator: “But even without any legal obligation nor necessity, I gave up my American Citizenship because even before I took the Philippine Bar or ran for Congress.”
Based on the article of Rodis, it was on year 1998 when Sen. Cayetano became a member of the Philippine Bar and when he was also elected to the Philippine Congress.
However, Rodis stated that although the Senator “openly acknowledges” his renouncement of his U.S. citizenship, “the fact remains that when he ran for and won a seat as a Taguig City Councilor in 1991 and as Taguig City Vice Mayor in 1995,” Sen. Cayetano was still a citizen of America.
Moreover, the columnist responded on the COMELEC junking the disqualification case of the former Pateros mayor against Mr. Cayetano as he was found to be a “natural-born Filipino citizen.”
Rodis cited that in Article IV of the 1987 Philippine Constitution in which the first section states that “those born before January 17, 1973, of Filipino mothers, who elect Philippine citizenship upon reaching the age of majority” are considered citizens of the Philippines.
Furthermore, the columnist also cited the Article IV Section 2 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution.
“Natural-born citizens are those who are citizens of the Philippines from birth without having to perform any act to acquire or perfect their Philippine citizenship. Those who elect Philippine citizenship in accordance with paragraph (3), Section 1 hereof shall be deemed natural-born citizens.”
According to him, the Senator “did not elect Philippine citizenship in 1985” when he got his ACR as a citizen of the United States.
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