Dual allegiance | Previous bar Q | Q No.10 Poli | Bar 2022

 "Dual allegiance of citizens is inimical to the national interest and shall be dealt with by law." [ Sec.5, Article IV, 1987 Constitution]

Dual citizenship is [involuntary] and arises when, as a result of the concurrent application of the different laws of two or more states, a person is simultaneously considered a national by the said states.

Thus, like any other natural-born Filipino, it is enough for a person with dual citizenship who seeks public office to:

(a) file his certificate of candidacy; and

(b) swear to the oath of allegiance contained therein.

Dual allegiance, on the other hand, is brought about by the [individual’s active participation] in the naturalization process.

[U]nder R.A. No. 9225, a Filipino who becomes a naturalized citizen of another country is allowed to retain his Filipino citizenship by swearing to the supreme authority of the Republic of the Philippines. The act of taking an oath of allegiance is an implicit renunciation of a naturalized citizen’s foreign citizenship.

In Sections 2 and 3 of R.A. No. 9225, the framers (of the Constitution) were not concerned with dual citizenship per se, but with the status of naturalized citizens who maintain their allegiance to their countries of origin even after their naturalization[.]

The Constitution provides:

"Dual allegiance of citizens is inimical to the national interest and shall be dealt with by law." [ Sec.5, Article IV, 1987 Constitution]

Section 5(3) of R.A. No. 9225 states that naturalized citizens who reacquire Filipino citizenship and desire to run for elective public office in the Philippines shall "meet the qualifications for holding such public office as required by the Constitution and existing laws and, at the time of filing the certificate of candidacy, make a personal and sworn renunciation of any and all foreign citizenship before any public officer authorized to administer an oath" aside from the oath of allegiance prescribed in Section 3 of R.A. No. 9225.

The twin requirements of:

[a] swearing to an Oath of Allegiance; and

[b] executing a Renunciation of Foreign Citizenship served as the bases for our recent rulings in Jacot v. Dal and COMELEC, Velasco v. COMELEC, and Japzon v. COMELEC, all of which involve natural-born Filipinos who later became naturalized citizens of another country and thereafter ran for elective office in the Philippines.

[G.R. No. 176947 February 19, 2009]

vs.COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS and GUSTAVO S. TAMBUNTING

CARPIO, J.