HOURS before the term of newly-elected officials began yesterday, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) affirmed the annulment of the proclamation of Luis Chua Uy as the duly elected congressman for the 6th District of the City of Manila and ordered the declaration of Bienvenido Abante Jr. as the winner of the May 12 polls.
In a vote of 5-0-2, the Comelec en banc affirmed the decision of its Second Division granting the petition of Abante against Uy, who was declared ineligible to run for congressman for being a naturalized Filipino.
“Accordingly, the Motion for Reconsideration (MR) is denied. The Resolution of the Commission (Second Division) dated 18 June 2025 is affirmed. The proclamation of Respondent Luis ‘Joey’ Chua Uy as the duly elected Member of the House of Representatives for the 6th District of the City of Manila is hereby annulled,” said the Commission.
As this developed, Uy yesterday asked the Supreme Court to intervene and stop the Commission on Elections from nullifying his victory in the May 12 elections against Abante on the grounds that he is not a natural-born Filipino citizen.
Uy, through his counsel Gialogo & Associates, urged the High Court to nullify and set aside the resolution issued by the Comelec’s Second Division on June 18 and the subsequent en banc resolution dated June 30, which annulled his proclamation and declared Abante as the duly elected representative of Manila’s Sixth District.
Uy also asked the SC to immediately issue a temporary restraining order to stop the poll body from implementing the assailed resolutions.
However, the Comelec said Abante must be proclaimed as the elected congressman of the 6th District of the City of Manila as he is the “only qualified candidate” for the post.
“The Board of Canvassers of the City of Manila is hereby directed to reconvene and proclaim Petitioner Bienvenido ‘Benny’ Mirando Abante, Jr., the only qualified candidate, as the duly elected Member of the House of Representatives for the 6th District of the City of Manila,” said the Comelec.
The poll body said it ruled to junk the MR of Uy as he was unable to prove otherwise the allegations of Abante that he is not a natural-born citizen.
It pointed out how Uy never contested the authenticity of the identification certificate issued by the Bureau of Immigration, which recognized him as a naturalized Filipino citizen.
“Respondent never actually disputed the authenticity of its contents. While broadly alleging that the authenticity of said identification certificates is ‘vigorously contested’, the respondent never claimed that its contents are false or fabricated,” the Comelec said.
“To our minds, respondent’s efforts to exclude the identification certificates without disputing the truthfulness of their contents, amount to an implied admission that the certificates were, in fact, issued to him and his parents,” added the poll body.
Under the 1987 Constitution, “no person shall be a member of the House of Representatives unless he is a natural-born citizen of the Philippines”.
In an interview, Comelec Chairman George Garcia said the Commission will lose jurisdiction over the case by noon of June 30.
“Once there has been a proclamation and oath taking, by 12:01 pm of June 30, we will no longer have jurisdiction over national positions with cases pending before us,” said Garcia.
In his petition for certiorari and prohibition, Uy argued that the Comelec has no jurisdiction or authority in his case as he has formally assumed his post starting on June 30, having been proclaimed as winner after obtaining 64,746 votes to Abante’s 63,358 votes.
He said any question involving his qualification or election thus rested not with the Comelec but with the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal.
Uy said he took his oath last May 26 before Manila Regional Trial Court Executive Judge Carolina Icasiano-Sion.
“Any further attempt to challenge Congressman Joey Uy’s qualification or his right to hold office – including actions by the Commission on Elections– falls outside of Comelec’s jurisdiction and is now properly within the exclusive purview of the HRET,” part of the 75-page petition stated.
“As of that moment, Comelec was divested of all authority to enforce or execute any decision or ruling concerning Cong. Joey’s election, returns, or qualifications. Thus, any further attempt by Comelec to implement these Resolutions clearly exceeds its constitutional jurisdiction,” it added.
Uy also decried the failure of the poll body to conduct a clarificatory hearing and give him time to explain before it ruled that he did not possess Philippine citizenship from birth as required under the law.
The poll body ruled that Uy is a naturalized Filipino citizen as he was born in 1962 to a Chinese father and a mother who had lost her Filipino citizenship by marriage, making both parents non-Filipino at the time of his birth.
In his petition, Uy also accused the Comelec of committing grave abuse of discretion by acting on Abante’s petition under Section 78 of the Omnibus Election Code, despite the fact that it was filed beyond the mandatory 25-day statutory period and its lack of jurisdiction to act on it.
Uy also said his mother’s marriage to his father does not result in loss of Filipino citizenship.
“Those born of Filipino mothers with an alien father, being natural-born Filipino citizens, need not elect Philippine citizenship,” he argued, adding that Abante failed to point any legal basis to prove his contention that Filipino women would automatically lose their Filipino citizenship and acquire that of their foreign husband when they are married.
“Neither was there a showing, nor any attempt to prove that Cong. Joey’s mother acquired Chinese citizenship by virtue of Chinese law,” he further stressed.
Uy also told the SC that he consistently voted as a Filipino, repeatedly sought and served in public office, and explicitly identified as Filipino throughout his life.
