The Poe Cases: Preventing Statelessness for Foundlings in the Philippines COMELEC ruled against Poe. Three other petitions from private citizens were filed to disqualify Poe from the election on the same ground. The COMELEC decided these petitions against Poe as well.8 Poe brought the COMELEC rulings to the Supreme Court which reversed the COMELEC decisions, holding that she satisfied the citizenship requirements and was qualified to be a candidate for President in the May 2016 elections. The challenge to Poe’s citizenship rested on the fact that foundlings are not expressly mentioned as citizens in any of the Philippines’ three Constitutions.9 On this point, the majority of the Supreme Court held that ‘[a]s a matter of law, foundlings are, as a class, natural-born citizens. While the 1935 Constitution’s enumeration is silent as to foundlings, there is no restrictive language which would definitely exclude foundlings either.’10 The Court examined the intent of the framers of the Constitution and found that there was an attempt to include foundlings in the enumeration of who are considered natural-born citizens under the Constitution. This was not carried out, ‘not because there was any objection to the notion that persons of “unknown parentage” are not citizens but only because their number was not enough to merit specific mention’.11 The Court added that it could not discern any ‘intent or language permitting discrimination against foundlings’ and instead found that all three Constitutions guarantee the basic right to equal protection of the laws and exhort the State to render social justice. It cited provisions in the present Constitution that do not show any intent to discriminate against foundlings ‘on account of their unfortunate status’.12 DAVID V SENATE ELECTORAL TRIBUNAL Prior to running as a presidential candidate in the 2016 elections, Grace Poe’s citizenship was already questioned in the earlier case of David when she decided to file her candidacy for a senatorial seat during the 2013 elections. On 27 September 2012, Grace Poe executed a Certificate of Candidacy to run for senator, which was submitted to the Commission on Elections on 2 October 2012. She won and was declared as senator-elect on 16 May 2013. Rizalito Y David, a losing candidate in the 2013 Senatorial Elections, filed before the SET a Petition for Quo Warranto on 6 August 2015. He contested the 8 9 10 11 12 This portion of text is reproduced from Dante Gatmaytan, ‘Philippine Supreme Court: Foundlings are Natural Born Citizens; May Run for President’ (International Journal of Constitutional Law Blog, 16 March 2016) <http://www.iconnectblog.com/2016/03/ philippine-supreme-court-foundlings-are-natural-born-citizens-may-run-for-president>, archived at <https://perma.cc/R5M2-7TG6>. For an extended, if whimsical, treatment of the case, see Dante Gatmaytan, ‘Hard Cases Make Bad Movies: The Candidates Poe and Philippine Citizenship Law as Screenplay’ (2021) 94(1) Philippine Law Journal 493. The Republic of the Philippines (‘the Philippines’) has had three Constitutions since 1995; the 1935 Constitution (required by the United States of America before it was granted independence), the 1973 Commonwealth Constitution (a version designed during the term of Ferdinand Marcos) and the 1987 Freedom Constitution (written after Marcos was deposed in 1986). Poe-Llamanzares v Commission on Elections (n 3). ibid. ibid. 311