ABS-CBN chair grilled on dual citizenship

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THE former president of ABS-CBN Corp., now its chairman emeritus, Eugenio “Gabby” Lopez III, yesterday admitted he is a citizen of both the Philippines and the United States, a status which he claims does not constitutionally prohibit him from owning a mass media company.

On the questioning of Rep. Claudine Diana Bautista of the party-list group DUMPER-PTDA (Philippines Taxi Drivers Association), Lopez admitted to the joint committee on legislative franchises and good government that he identified himself as an American citizen in all his immigration forms prior to being recognized as a Filipino citizen by the Department of Justice in 2002.

While he had been using a US passport prior to returning to the Philippines in the aftermath of the 1986 “EDSA revolution,” the 68-year-old Lopez said he had never taken a pledge of allegiance even if he went to college in the US and took his master’s degree there.

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“I grew up in the Philippines and I went to grade school and high school in the Philippines… When you go to college in America, it does not ask you to make an oath of allegiance,” Lopez said.

Lopez said he has always believed he is a natural-born citizen” because my parents are Filipinos.”

“But since I was not born in the Philippines, I did not have a birth certificate, so it behooves me that I have to file a petition for recognition (of Filipino citizenship before the DOJ in 2001) for whatever purposes,” he said.

Deputy speaker Rodante Marcoleta of SAGIP party-list, who represented those who are opposing the renewal of ABS-CBN’s franchise, claimed that the dual citizenship status of Lopez is in conflict with the Constitution.

“When you were still not an owner of ABS-CBN, there was no problem. The conflict began when you became part of ABS-CBN’s management because it has to be in accordance with Article XI, Section 11 of the Constitution,” he told Lopez, who participated via videoconferencing.

Lopez’ lawyer Mario Bautista, however, said his client’s dual citizenship status does not prohibit him from owning a mass media company because while he is an American citizen, he also remains a natural-born Filipino under the 1935 Constitution which covers his birth year of 1952.

“Yes, there is no provision prohibiting that (dual citizens from owning a mass media company),” he told lawmakers.

Article XVI, Section 11 of the 1987 Constitution states that: “The ownership and management of mass media shall be limited to citizens of the Philippines, or to corporations, cooperatives or associations, wholly-owned and managed by such citizens.”

But Marcoleta, a lawyer, insisted that the provision clearly requires that mass media owners be limited to Filipinos who do not have other citizenships.

“There wouldn’t have been a problem if he’s just Filipino and not American because it says there in that provision that only Filipinos can own,” he said.

To prove that Lopez is an American citizen, Marcoleta also showed the panel an alien-fingerprint card that Lopez supposedly used in 2001, during the time he had only a US passport.

On the questioning of Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr., president of the National Unity Party (NUP), Bautista also confirmed that all incorporation papers of the network indicated that Lopez is a Filipino citizen.

Barzaga, also a lawyer, wanted to know what citizenship Lopez wrote in “ABS-CBN’s incorporation papers from 1986 to 2000.”

“In the articles of incorporation where he is an incorporator, what’s his nationality?” Barzaga said, to which Bautista said, “Filipino”

Lopez also later admitted he voted in the 2016 US presidential elections.

Rep. Mike Defensor (Anakalusugan) cited Section 5 of the 1987 Constitution which states that “dual allegiance of citizens is inimical to the national interest and shall be dealt with by law.”

He recalled that in 1991, Congress crafted a law requiring dual citizens who are running for public office to renounce their foreign citizenship.

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“If we (lawmakers), the barangay captain and kagawad are required to only have Filipino citizenship, what more for a mass media company which has the power to control the minds of the people,” Defensor said.

Lopez, however, said he was standing by his record over the last 35 years, stressing that “I have been committed to the people of this country.”

Lopez then said that if the lawmakers will go beyond the technicality of his citizenship and talk about his allegiance, his record in serving the Filipino will speak for itself.

“If you are going to look beyond the technicality and talk about my allegiance, please look at my record for the past 35 years,” he said.

When asked if he ever considered renouncing his American citizenship, Lopez said: “I have considered it. The way I see it, I am first and foremost a Filipino. I will live and I will die in the Philippines.”

“You are right, it is something I should’ve considered, but it’s never something I felt as an issue in terms of any of my actions,” he said.

Justice Undersecretary Emmeline Aglipay-Villar confirmed that Lopez is a natural-born citizen even if he is also an American citizen because his parents, Eugenio “Geny” Jr. and Conchita Lao, are both Filipinos.

Villar said Lopez’ use of a US passport “is not a reason to lose his Filipino citizenship and not owning a Philippine passport does not mean he’s not a Filipino.”

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