4/20/2021 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly The laws on citizenship – its acquisition or loss, and the rights, privileges, and immunities of citizens – have given rise to some of the most disputatious and visceral issues resolved by this Court. The problem is compounded in this petition because citizenship is taken up in connection with the sovereign right of voters to choose their representatives in Congress. In this petition for certiorari, petitioner Antonio Bengson III asks this Court to deny respondent Teodoro Cruz the right to hold the Office of Representative of the Second District of Pangasinan because he does not possess the constitutional requirement of being a natural-born citizen of this country. Respondent, on the other hand, insists that he is qualified to be elected to Congress considering that by repatriation, he reacquired his status as a natural-born Filipino citizen. Records show that Teodoro Cruz was born in the Philippines on April 27, 1960 to Filipino parents, spouses Lamberto and Carmelita Cruz. On November 5, 1985, he enlisted in the United States Armed Forces and served the United States Marine Corps. While in the service for almost five years, he applied for naturalization with the US District Court of Northern District of California and was issued his Certificate of Naturalization No. 14556793 as an American citizen. On October 27, 1993, he was honorably discharged from the US Marine Corps. He then decided to return to the Philippines. Cruz availed of repatriation under R.A. No. 2630, an act providing for reacquisition of Philippine citizenship by persons who lost such citizenship by rendering service to or accepting commission in the Armed Forces of the United States. On March 17, 1994, he took his oath of allegiance to the Republic of the Philippines. The oath was registered with the Local Civil Registry of Mangatarem, Pangasinan. On the same date, he executed an Affidavit of Reacquisition of Philippine Citizenship. Thus, on April 11, 1994, the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation ordered the cancellation of his Alien Certificate of Registration (ACR No. B-04628111) and Immigration Certificate of Residence (ICR No. 286582) and issued him an Identification Certificate. The cancellation of his ACR and ICR was affirmed by the Justice Department. On January 18, 1995, the United States Embassy in Manila issued to him a Certificate of Loss of Nationality of the United States. In the local elections of 1995, Cruz filed his certificate of candidacy for mayor of Mangatarem, Pangasinan, declaring himself to be a naturalized Filipino citizen. He won and served as mayor for one term. Thereafter, Cruz filed his certificate of candidacy for a seat in Congress, this time declaring himself as a natural-born Filipino. Again, he won with a lead of 26,671 votes over candidate Antonio Bengson, III. On September 3, 1998, Cruz was proclaimed winner in the congressional race in the Second District of Pangasinan. Bengson then filed a petition for Quo Warranto Ad Cautelam with the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) on September 14, 1998, claiming that Cruz, not being a natural-born Filipino citizen when he filed his Certificate of Candidacy on March 15, 1998, is not qualified to run as a member of the House of Representatives. That he should be a natural-born citizen is a qualification mandated by Section 6, https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/58613 17/25