G.R. No. 248985* - PHILIP HERNANDEZ PICCIO, VS. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ELECTORAL TRIBUNAL AND ROSANNA VERGARA VERGARA.

Ruling

accordingly issued IC No. 06-12955. She further stated that, upon her request on December 15, 2015 and June 27, 2016, she was, in fact, issued certified true copies of her IC, together with its relevant documents, which issuances were accompanied by official receipts attached as enclosures to her letter. [27] In response to Vergara, then newly-appointed Commissioner Jaime H. Morente (Commissioner Morente), in a Letter-Reply dated August 10, 2016, stated that the Acting Chief of the Board of Special Inquiry (BI-BSI) confirmed that Vergara's R.A. 9225 Petition had been duly received, processed, and approved by the BI and that she had been issued IC No. 06-12955. Further, her R.A. 9225 records reportedly containing photocopied documents were borrowed by Commissioner Geron on May 16, 2016. Commissioner Morente likewise declared that he had ordered the conduct of an investigation on the alleged tampering of Vergara's R.A. 9225 records. [28] Proceedings before the HRET On July 11, 2016, Piccio filed a quo warranto petition against Vergara before the HRET, [29] averring that Vergara is ineligible to sit as a Member of the House, as she remained to be an American citizen, not having complied with the requirements of R.A. 9225 for re-acquisition of Philippine citizenship. He cited, as basis: 1) the Certification dated May 24, 2016 of the Manila City OCC and 2) Commissioner Geron's three letters. Umali basically only adopted the position of Piccio. Vergara, on the other hand, denied Piccio's allegations and maintained that she had duly re-acquired her Philippine citizenship in compliance with R.A. 9225. [30] On July 27, 2017, Pre-trial Conference was held. [31] Later, the HRET issued the Pre-Trial Order dated July 28, 2017. Thereafter, trial on the merits followed. [32] The Ruling of HRET In the assailed Decision, the HRET found no merit in the quo warranto petitions of Piccio and Umali, and disposed of the case, thus: WHEREFORE , the instant petitions for quo warranto are DISMISSED for lack of merit, and the proclamation of respondent ROSANNA VERGARA as the duly elected Member of the House of Representatives representing the Third District of Nueva Ecija in the May 2016 National and Local Elections is AFFIRMED. x x x x SO ORDERED.