The House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) has maintained a clean record of being upheld by the Supreme Court with the latter's recent affirming the Filipino citizenship of Nueva Ecija Third District Rep. Rosanna “Ria” V. Vergara.
The SC said it is clear that Vergara was able to reacquire her Philippine citizenship as “there is overwhelming competent evidence” supporting the HRET’s finding that she had complied with the provisions of Republic Act 9225 or the Citizenship Retention and Reacquisition Act which qualified her to hold office as elected congresswoman of the country.
The ruling supported the HRET’s decision that junked the quo warranto petition seeking Vergara’s ouster as representative of her congressional district because of questions about her Filipino citizenship.
With the said decision, the judiciary-legislative panel chaired by SC Associate Justice Marvic Leonen maintained an impeccable record of getting the High Court’s nod on decisions brought to the latter’s attention.
Vergara, chairperson of the House Committee on Ethics and Privileges, cited the SC ruling released last month as a vindication of “her true and genuine service to the province of Nueva Ecija, most especially her constituents int he third district.
“I am grateful to the Supreme Court for upholding the decision of the HRET and more importantly, the will of the people in the Third District of Nueva Eicja who elected me to be their Representative in the 17th and 18th Congress,” said Vergara.
“Despite all the talk in my district by my detractors that the Supreme Court would strike down the HRET decision, I never lost hope because I always have faith in the integrity and fairness of our magistrates and in the rule of law. God bless the Supreme Court,” she added.
In an en banc ruling, the SC upheld the decision of the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) that declared her a Filipino citizen.
The quo warranto petition filed against Vergara questioned her citizenship and sought her disqualification as member of Congress.
Vergara was born to Filipino parents on November 5, 1963. She was naturalized as an American citizen in 1998 and reacquired her Filipino citizenship in 2006.
Chaired by SC Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, the HRET junked the quo warranto petition and declared Vergara a a natural-born citizen of the Philippines.
Vergara was first elected congresswoman in 2016 by handing then outgoing Gov. Aurelio “Oyie” Umali his first ever defeat in politics in over a decade as congressman and governor of Nueva Ecija.
Umali’s camp reportedly sought Vergara’s disqualification as congresswoman when executive assistant Philip Piccio led the filing of the quo warranto petition before the HRET.
The petitioners claimed that since the Bureau of Immigration (BI) only had photocopies of her application for reacquisition of Filipino citizenship under Republic Act 9225, claiming that she did not comply with the proper procedure required by law.
During the 17th Congress, the Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability conducted a congressional inquiry to investigate the mysterious loss of Vergara’s RA 9225 records. In the course of the investigation, the BI, under the leadership of Commissioner Jaime H. Morente, affirmed that Vergara applied for and was granted the reacquisition of her Filipino citizenship way back in November 2006.
As for the absence of her original RA 9225 documents at the Bureau, the high tribunal held that “the issue in the present case pertains to the existence and due execution of these documents and not their contents.... The best evidence rule requiring the production of the original documents does not apply.”
The Court likewise stressed the state’s policy to hold the official custodian of public records accountable for their loss.
The High Tribunal stated that to rule otherwise will set the dangerous precedent “that documents duly filed but have gone missing while in the custody of the receiving agency, without fault or even knowledge of the persons filing, will be rendered useless and void xxx. This will bestow great injustice, not just upon Vergara or other similarly situated public officials, but likewise upon the general public who, in the first place, is powerless to prevent such mishaps.”