4/9/2020
E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly
The petitioner ran for Mayor in her hometown of Caba, La Union in the 2007 elections.
She lost in her bid. She again sought elective office during the May 10, 2010 elections
this time for the position of Vice-Mayor. She obtained the highest numbers of votes and
was proclaimed as the winning candidate. She took her oath of office on May 13, 2010.
Soon thereafter, private respondents Robelito V. Picar, Wilma P. Pagaduan[7] and Luis M.
Bautista,[8] (private respondents) all registered voters of Caba, La Union, filed separate
petitions for quo warranto questioning the petitioner’s eligibility before the RTC. The
petitions similarly sought the petitioner’s disqualification from holding her elective post
on the ground that she is a dual citizen and that she failed to execute a “personal and
sworn renunciation of any and all foreign citizenship before any public officer authorized
to administer an oath” as imposed by Section 5(2) of R.A. No. 9225.
The petitioner denied being a dual citizen and averred that since September 27, 2006,
she ceased to be an Australian citizen. She claimed that the Declaration of Renunciation
of Australian Citizenship she executed in Australia sufficiently complied with Section
5(2), R.A. No. 9225 and that her act of running for public office is a clear abandonment
of her Australian citizenship.
Ruling of the RTC
In its consolidated Decision dated October 22, 2010, the trial court held that the
petitioner’s failure to comply with Section 5(2) of R.A. No. 9225 rendered her ineligible
to run and hold public office. As admitted by the petitioner herself during trial, the
personal declaration of renunciation she filed in Australia was not under oath. The law
clearly mandates that the document containing the renunciation of foreign citizenship
must be sworn before any public officer authorized to administer oath. Consequently,
the RTC’s decision disposed as follows:
WHEREFORE, premises considered, the Court renders judgment in FAVOR of
[private respondents] and AGAINST (petitioner):
1) DECLARING [petitioner] TEODORA SOBEJANA-CONDON, disqualified and
ineligible to hold the office of Vice-Mayor of Caba, La Union;
2) NULLIFYING her proclamation as the winning candidate for Vice-Mayor of
said municipality; [and]
3) DECLARING the position of Vice-Mayor in said municipality vacant.
SO ORDERED.[9]
Ruling of the COMELEC
The petitioner appealed to the COMELEC but the appeal was dismissed by the Second
Division in its Order[10] dated November 30, 2010 for failure to pay the docket fees
elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/55170
2/18