• By Justice Noel Gimenez Tijam (Ret.) | At best, dual citizenship is a private interest which brings advantages to its holder – ease of travel, increased voting power, double opportunities for social benefits, higher chances of employment – to name a few. In addition, dual citizens are proposed to be likewise equally entitled to all benefits including those especially reserved only to Filipinos. This very real possibility of dual benefits, increased opportunities, privilege, and advantage violate the core value underlying citizenship which is equality before the law.
Tag: Dual citizenship
The plight of ABS-CBN: Of dual citizenship and foreign ownership of mass media
• By Justice Noel Gimenez Tijam (Ret.) | When I speak of double allegiance, therefore, I speak of this unsettled kind of allegiance of Filipinos, of citizens who are already Filipinos but who, by their acts, may be said to be bound by a second allegiance, either to Peking or Taiwan. I also took close note of the concern expressed by some Commissioners yesterday, including Commissioner Villacorta, who were concerned about the lack of guarantees of thorough assimilation, and especially Commissioner Concepcion who has always been worried about minority claims on our natural resources.
The plight of ABS-CBN: Of dual citizenship, foreign ownership of mass media
• By Justice Noel Gimenez Tijam (Ret.) | Let us therefore disabuse ourselves from thinking that the issues confronting ABS-CBN denigrate or disparage dual citizens. Topics on the contributions of dual citizens, their stature and standing in the international community, are irrelevant because these are already acknowledged and undisputed, and, thus, would have no bearing to the fact in issue which is compliance with the Constitutional and legal requirements. It is entirely acceptable that there are countless dual citizens who are patriotic, talented, and productive, but the issue is not the acceptance of dual citizens as good individuals in the community. Non-compliance and disobedience to the letter and the spirit of the Constitution cannot be cloaked by enterprise and stature.
