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After all the Philippines got their independence in 1946 and he was born in 1945 which I believe implies he is a U.S. citizen.

If he is a U.S. citizen would there be anything in law forbidding him from running in the USA?

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    Welcome to Politics Stack Exchange. You might have noticed that many users downvoted this question. Please note that we try to maintain political neutrality on this website and focus only on the questions themselves. For that reason we all try to keep our own political opinions out of questions and answers and only focus on the technicalities. Why you would want Duterte to be US president isn't really relevant to this question, so I removed that part. I hope that your question will now get a more positive reception, because the actual question is indeed relevant here.
    – Philipp ♦
    Jun 17, 2018 at 8:28
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    Nah userLTK I searched on Google is "Duterte a U.S. Citizen" and looked up the relevant dates and could not find anything disqualifying; which in fact is the only reason I asked here. So no, "go do a google" would not have helped
    – Somedude
    Jun 17, 2018 at 12:55
  • Phillip thanks, although part of that was me being curious if he was dual citizen if he could get in trouble for some of the things in the meme; but I suppose if he is not a dual citizen that point may be moot.
    – Somedude
    Jun 17, 2018 at 13:01

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President Duterte was born in 1945. In 1946 the Phillipines became independent, and all US nationals were required to give up their US nationality to obtain Filipino citizenship. For those born between 1935 and 1946 this was automatic.

Prior to 1946, Filipinos were US nationals, who do not have the right to stand or vote in any election.

Older Filipinos could have emigrated to the US as US nationals prior to 1946, and later obtained citizenship through the naturalisation process. However, they would then be naturalised citizens, not "natural born citizens" and not eligible to stand for the Presidency.

Duterte does not have US citizenship, cannot vote in or run in a US election, and even if he obtained citizenship, he could not be elected President.

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    Pardon my English but doesn't "can't stand something" mean "dislikes something" or is this a special phrase for standing in elections?
    – Communisty
    Jun 18, 2018 at 10:39
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    @Communisty I think what James K meant was not that he "can not stand US elections" (there are naturally born US citizens who can't stand that election ruckus either), I think he means he can not stand for US elections. I corrected that.
    – Philipp ♦
    Jun 18, 2018 at 10:52
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    Yeah, the preposition was simply missing the second time. You can both stand in an election and stand for an election, and it means being a candidate in that election.
    – chirlu
    Jun 18, 2018 at 10:56
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    I would also add a mention that even if he still had dual U.S.-Philippine Citizenship, the other requirement for office of U.S. President requires at minimum 14 years of residence in the United States proper.
    – hszmv
    Jun 18, 2018 at 17:38
  • I believe there is a meta post stating that community standards are that American usage is preferred in questions about US government and local (British/Indian/Australian) usage is preferred in questions about those respective governments.
    – grovkin
    Jun 19, 2018 at 2:16

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