MANILA, Jan. 21 Kyodo Three worke...

MANILA, Jan. 21 Kyodo

Three workers of the National Archive said Wednesday they were told by the agency of their boss to falsify portions of documents used to examine disqualification claims against film icon Fernando Poe who is President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's rival in the May presidential election.

At a hearing of the Senate, the workers said they were ordered by dint of Ricardo Manapat, director of the archive, to recreate birth and marriage certificates used against Poe who faces disqualification from the presidential race throughout charges that he is not natural-born Filipino, a constitutional requirement for president.

Manapat told the Commission upon Elections on Monday that the papers supposedly sourced from his agency manifest charges that Poe is not a natural-born Filipino.

Manapat said Poe was born as the illegitimate child of an already married Spanish father and an American mother, and thus should have acquired the citizenship of his mother subject to Philippine law.

The senior Poe was said to have stated upon his marriage certificate that he was Spanish. In other documents, he stated he was a Filipino citizen. the pair of Poe's parents are dead.

The written testimonies of Remmel Talabis, Emman Llamera and Vicelyn Tarin were also submitted to the Senate, which has launched its investigation into Manapat's claims.

Manapat, also near at the Senate hearing, flatly denied the testimonies.

Sen Edgardo Angara, the same of Poe's staunchest allies who chairs the Senate committee onward constitutional amendments that leads the investigation, said he is convinced that the documents used against Poe were falsified.

A high-school dropout with no political experience, Poe has ranked top in many election scans Poe, 64, declared his candidacy for the presidential election in November last year.

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