G.R. No. 210164. August 18, 2015.
FACTS:
Petitioner Arnado is a natural-born Filipino citizen who lost his Philippine citizenship after he was naturalized as a citizen of the United States of America (USA). Subsequently, and in preparation for his plans to run for public office in the Philippines, Arnado applied for repatriation under Republic Act No. 9225. He took an Oath of Allegiance to the Republic of the Philippines and on April 3, 2009, he executed an Affidavit of Renunciation of his foreign citizenship. On November 30, 2009, Arnado filed his Certificate of Candidacy (CoC) for the mayoralty post of Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte.
Balua, another mayoralty candidate, however, filed a petition to disqualify Arnado and/or to cancel his CoC on the ground, among others, that Arnado remained a US citizen because he continued to use his US passport for entry to and exit from the Philippines after executing aforesaid Affidavit of Renunciation.
Arnado won the election, however, COMELEC declared that Arnado’s act of consistently using his US passport effectively negated his Affidavit of Renunciation.