VIRAC, Catanduanes: Another prominent Bicolano politician has been charged as an alien, while serving as a two-term governor and seeking re-election next year.

The case of Gov. Joseph Cua of Catanduanes province said to be the wealthiest businessman in the province, already brought to three the number of incumbent politicians in Bicol facing disqualification cases on the ground of foreign citizenship before the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

The complaint filed against Cua for disqualification cited that the governor’s parents were Chinese and that he was neither a natural born nor a naturalized Filipino citizen.

The governor allegedly claimed in his certificate of candidacy (CoC) that he is a natural born Filipino citizen, according to businessman Larry Que in his complaint filed before the Comelec on October 24.

According to the complaint filed by Que who is also a gubernatorial candidate, Cua had allegedly misrepresented himself in his CoC as a naturalized born citizen while his birth certificate obtained from the National Statistics Office on October 12 showed that the governor was born to full-blooded Chinese parents on October 16, 1962 in San Andres, Catanduanes.

The complainant said that Cua could not produce credible documentary evidence that could prove that the incumbent governor had renounced his original citizenship.

In his text message, Cua said that he was readying his answer point-by-point denying he is not a Filipino.

The two other accused aliens are former Albay governors now Reps. Al Francis Bichara (2nd district) and Fernando Gonzales (3rd district).

Gonzales, for one, has filed his CoC for re-election next year. In a text message, Gonzales said that no one can prove that he is not a Filipino.