NEWSFLASH

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EDU MANZANO IS MAKATI VICE MAYOR -- COMELEC

Manila, Sep. 1, 1998 - Actor Edu Manzano can finally sit as Vice Mayor of Makati City. The Commission on Elections ruled yesterday that he is a Filipino citizen, despite having used a US passport for his foreign travels.

The Comelec's en banc decision resolved the dual citizenship issue hurled against the actor which barred him from assuming his post as vice mayor after winning decisively in the May 11 elections in Makati.

The Comelec ordered the city board of canvassers to reconvene and proclaim Manzano as the winning candidate for vice mayor. The Comelec en banc reversed the Comelec Second Division under Commissioner Julio Desamito which disqualified Manzano as candidate due to dual citizenship on May 7, four days before the national and local elections. Manzano appealed the Second Division ruling on May 8.

Despite his disqualification, Manzano still won by 3,000 votes over his nearest rival, incumbent Vice Mayor Nestor Mercado. Manzano, who ran under Liberal Party, obtained 103,853 votes followed by PDP-Laban candidate Ernesto Mercado who obtained 100,894 votes.

In its resolution, the Comelec en banc said Manzano effectively renounced his US citizenship when he voted in the 1992, 1995, and 1998 elections.

''It is an undisputed fact that when respondent (Manzano) attained the age of majority, he registered himself as voter and voted in the elections of 1992, 1995, and 1998, which effectively renounced his US citizenship under American law. Under Philippine law, he no longer had US citizenship,'' the Comelec ruled.

Comelec said Manzano's victory in the elections also turned the tide in his favor.

''In applying election laws, it would be far better to err in favor of the popular choice that be embroiled in complex legal issues involving private international law which may well be settled before the highest court,'' it said.

Comelec said Manzano, who was born of Filipino parents in San Francisco, California in 1955, acquired US citizenship by operation of the US Constitution. But he was also a natural born Filipino citizen by operation of the 1935 Philippine Constitution since his parents were Filipinos at the time of his birth, the electoral body said.

Records showed it was only in 1993 that Manzano asked the immigration bureau to cancel his alien registration, which the bureau did on June 17, 1993 recognizing him as a Filipino citizen under the 1935 Constitution. The immigration bureau issued Manzano an identification certificate attesting to his being a Filipino citizen on March 24, 1997.