MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles, Manila Bureau) – It is written in the Philippine Constitution: No person can become president unless he or she is a natural-born citizen (Section 2, Article VII).

Senator Risa Hontiveros, a known advocate for the rights of women and children, says that qualification is unfair, and wants to change it.

Today, Hontiveros proposed an amendment to the 1987 charter that would eliminate the clause, “natural-born citizen.”

The senator believes that this provision is unfair to Filipinos who were born in the Cesarean Section (C-Section).

”Hindi kasalanan nino man na ang isang tao ay ipinanganak sa C-Section,” she said (It’s nobody’s fault that a person was born in the C-Section).

”As long as a person’s birth certificate shows that he or she was born IN the Philippines, I think that would suffice to fulfill the intent of the Constitution,” Hontiveros pointed out.