The Supreme Court (SC) has ruled that a natural-born Filipino with dual citizenship is exempt from the twin requirements of swearing to an oath of allegiance and a renunciation of foreign citizenship before running for a public office.

In a full court decision written by Justice Antonio T. Carpio, the SC cleared Parañaque City Vice-Mayor Gustavo Tambunting of violating the Citizenship Retention and Reacquisition Act under Republic Act No. 9225 and the Omnibus Election Code on residency requirement for elected public officials.

The SC said that since Tambunting is a natural-born Filipino who also possesses American citizenship having been born of an American father and a Filipino mother, he is exempt from the twin requirements of RA 9225 of swearing to an oath of allegiance and executing a renunciation of foreign citizenship.

RA 9225 provides that naturalized citizens who reacquire Filipino citizenship and desire to run for elective public office in the Philippines shall "meet the qualifications for holding such public office as required by the Constitution and existing laws and, at the time of filing the certificate of candidacy, make a personal and sworn renunciation of any and all foreign citizenship before any public officer authorized to administer an oath."

"In the present case, Tambunting, a natural-born Filipino, did not subsequently become a naturalized citizen of another country. Hence, the twin requirements in RA 9225 do not apply to him,’’ the SC said.

With the ruling, the SC affirmed a decision of the Commission on Elections to the effect that Tambunting did not commit an election offense by willfully making false entries in his certificate of candidacy that he is a natural-born Filipino with 36 years of residency in the Philippines and 25 years in the constituency he sought to be elected.

The complainant against Tambunting, Gaudencio Cordora, elevated the issue before the SC.

In resolving the issue, the SC pointed out that "because of the circumstances of Tambunting’s birth, it was no longer necessary for him to undergo the naturalization process to acquire American citizenship. The fact that Tambunting had dual citizenship did not disqualify him from running for public office."