4/29/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly In his Separate Concurring Opinion, COMELEC Chairman Sixto Brillantes cited that the use of foreign passport is not one of the grounds provided for under Section 1 of Commonwealth Act No. 63 through which Philippine citizenship may be lost. “[T]he application of the more assimilative principle of continuity of citizenship is more appropriate in this case. Under said principle, once a person becomes a citizen, either by birth or naturalization, it is assumed that he desires to continue to be a citizen, and this assumption stands until he voluntarily denationalizes or expatriates himself. Thus, in the instant case respondent after reacquiring his Philippine citizenship should be presumed to have remained a Filipino despite his use of his American passport in the absence of clear, unequivocal and competent proof of expatriation. Accordingly, all doubts should be resolved in favor of retention of citizenship.”[26] On the other hand, Commissioner Rene V. Sarmiento dissented, thus: [R]espondent evidently failed to prove that he truly and wholeheartedly abandoned his allegiance to the United States. The latter’s continued use of his US passport and enjoyment of all the privileges of a US citizen despite his previous renunciation of the afore-mention[ed] citizenship runs contrary to his declaration that he chose to retain only his Philippine citizenship. Respondent’s submission with the twin requirements was obviously only for the purpose of complying with the requirements for running for the mayoralty post in connection with the May 10, 2010 Automated National and Local Elections. Qualifications for elective office, such as citizenship, are continuing requirements; once any of them is lost during his incumbency, title to the office itself is deemed forfeited. If a candidate is not a citizen at the time he ran for office or if he lost his citizenship after his election to office, he is disqualified to serve as such. Neither does the fact that respondent obtained the plurality of votes for the mayoralty post cure the latter’s failure to comply with the qualification requirements regarding his citizenship. Since a disqualified candidate is no candidate at all in the eyes of the law, his having received the highest number of votes does not validate his election. It has been held that where a petition for disqualification was filed before election against a candidate but was adversely resolved against him after election, his having obtained the highest number of votes did not make his election valid. His ouster from office does not violate the principle of vox populi suprema est lex because the application of the constitutional and statutory provisions on disqualification is not a matter of popularity. To apply it is to breath[e] life to the sovereign will of the people who expressed it elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/55820 7/49