MANILA- Senator Alan Peter Cayetano on Thursday blasted an opinion piece questioning his citizenship, calling it "fake news" and a "well disguised malicious article."
Cayetano took to Facebook his response to the column published by The Philippine Daily Inquirer, saying he acquired both Philippine and American citizenship at birth since he was born to a Filipino father, Renato Cayetano and an Amercian mother, Sandra Schramm.
"By law, by both the Philippine Constitution and US Constitution, I was both an American and am a Filipino nung time na pinanganak. At sabi nga po sa ibang court cases, hindi kasalanan ng bata yun," he said in a Facebook video.
In a separate post, Cayetano said he gave up his American citizenship even before he took the bar exams and ran for Congress.
Cayetano also said that his case should not be compared to former Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr., who encountered citizenship issues and was rejected by the Commission on Appointments.
"Iba yung pinanganak na you have two citizenship and you're allowed to choose," he said, admitting that he does not know all the facts of Yasay's case.
Yasay had admitted that he was granted US citizenship in November 1986 but that he was disqualified because he had "preconceived intent of abandoning his US residency.
Yasay said under American law, one is "disqualified for being an American citizenship" if at the time of application or granting, one had the "pre-conceived intent of abandoning your US residency and in fact you abandon your US residency within two years after obtaining that US citizenship."
"No I am not an American Citizen; I never chose to be an American Citizen," Cayetano said. "I am a Filipino and my only nationality is Filipino."
Cayetano also denied that he is stateless since he had two citizenships and only gave up the foreign citizenship.
"I am not stateless because unlike others who were Filipino then gave up Filipino citizenship for foreign citizenship therefore losing their Filipino citizenship, I always had both, BUT gave up the foreign citizenship. Again, I never chose to be a U.S. Citizen; the reverse is true - I renounced it," he said.