Under R.A. Citizenship Retention and Re-acquisition Act of 2003.

Yes, she is still considered a natural born Filipino. The law itself provides that such taking of oath did not
amount to perfecting her Filipino citizenship. There is no Filipino citizenship that she has to acquire or
perfect because she did not lose such natural born Filipino citizenship in the first place.

deemed not to have lost her Filipino citizenship. Since her citizenship was natural born Filipino, she is
deemed not to have lost that status.

the governing law would be the 1935 Constitution. Neither that Charter nor any
statute as of that year expressly conferred citizenship on foundlings.
However, the framers of the 1935 Constitution explained that expressly providing
citizenship rules for foundlings was unnecessary since that could be determined from
international law.

1961 International Convention on Statelessness, “[a] foundling found in the territory

of a Contracting State shall, in the absence of proof to the contrary, be considered to
have been born within the territory of parents possessing the nationality of that
State.”

Since she was found near a church in Jaro, Iloilo, when she was only a few days old,
her parents

"By international law the principle that children or people born in a country of unknown parents are
citizens of that country is recognized, and it is not necessary to include a binding provision on the
subject."

Grace Poe is a natural born Filipino. The parents of a foundling found in the Philippines are presumed
Filipino. Having been born of Filipino parents, even by presumption, she is a natural born Filipino. He who
claims that her parents are not Filipino should prove it.

provides that the generally accepted principles of international law shall form part of the law of the
Philippines.

Since Grace Poe was a Filipino citizen from the time she was born and did not have to do any act to
acquire or perfect such Filipino citizenship, she must be a natural born Filipino citizen.

The OSG said this intent is consistent with the social justice principle of the Constitution.
"To exclude foundlings from exercising fundamental political rights and make them legally invisible,
would be baseless, unjust, discriminatory, contrary to common sense, and the wrong way to interpret
the Constitution,"

when there is doubt in interpreting constitutional and legal provisions involving popular
sovereignty, it is best to interpret "in a manner that enables our electorate to elect freely their
chosen leader."
since she was born in 1968 when the 1935 Constitution was in effect.
The party list law (Republic Act Number 7941) requires that the percentage share of the total party
list votes of each party list groups shall be computed. It is determined by the formula:

Total votes obtained by a Party List Group

x 100%
TPLV
If the percentage share of Magdalo is expressed in two decimal places we have:

451,377
x 100% = 2.00%
22,574,337
If it is expressed in six decimal places we have:

451,377
x 100% = 1.999595%
22,574,337
Since the Comelec website is expressing the percentage share in two decimal places it considered
Magdalo as a two-percenter. Rappler must be using 4 or more decimal places since it did not place
Magdalo in the list of two-percenters.

The importance of the two percent

Since 1998 the Comelec has already used 3 different formulas in determining the number of seats to
be allocated to a party list group. But what is common to all of these formulas is to guarantee one
seat each to the two-percenters.

The latest formula was mandated by the Supreme Court decision (G.R. 179271) in 2009. It ordered
that “The allocation of additional seats under the Party-List System shall be in accordance with the
procedure used in Table 3 of this Decision.”

Note that the two-percenters are given one guaranteed seats each. Then the remaining number of
seats after the guaranteed seats are given is distributed in two stages.

In the first stage, additional number of seats is given to the two-percenters by determining the whole
number obtained when the percentage share of the party list group is multiplied by the remaining
number of seats.

Suppose, for example, that there are 40 remaining seats.

1. if Party List A (PL-A) has 6% of the TPLV then 6% x 40 = 2.4. Thus, PL-A is given 2 additional
seats.
2. If Party List (PL-B) has 3% of the TPLV then 3% x 40 = 1.2. Thus, PL-B is given 1 additional
seat.
3. If Party List (PL-C) has 2% of the TPLV then 2% x 40 = 0.8. Thus, PL-C is not given an
additional seat.

There is a second stage if there are still vacant seats.

In the second stage, one seat is awarded to the highest ranking (in terms of percentage share) party
list group that did not receive any additional seat in the first stage. If there are still vacant seats, then
one seat is awarded each to the next ranking party list groups until all the vacant seats are given.

Therefore, a party list group with at least two percent of the TPLV is always assured of at least two
seats by the Supreme Court Decision (See Table 3 of the Decision).

Obtaining 3 seats

In a proportional party list system, if a party list group has 10% of the total party list votes then it will
be awarded 10% of the total party list seats.

The Philippine party list system is not proportional since our party list law provides a ceiling of 3
seats that party list group may obtain.

A two-percenter may be able to get 3 seats if its percentage share of the TPLV is greater than or
equal to the following:

2
x 100%
Available Number of Party List Seats - Number of Two-Percenters
In the 2013 party list election there are 58 available party list seats. If the final canvassing has 13
two-percenters, then a two-percenter with at least [ 2 / ( 58 - 13 ) ] x 100% = 4.444444%.

Since Buhay the leading party list group in the 4:30 p.m. May 17 posting of the Comelec website had
4.680620% of TPLV, it will be awarded 3 seats if it were the final posting.

The table below shows the percentage share of TPLV needed to get 3 seats given the number of
Two-Percenters.

Number of Two- Percentage Needed for

Percenters 3 Seats
10 4.166667%
11 4.255319%
12 4.347826%
13 4.444444%
14 4.545455%
15 4.651163%
16 4.761905%
17 4.878049%
18 5.000000%
19 5.128205%
20 5.263158%