INQUIRER Sports

MANILA, Philippines—Cager Gabriel Daniel Norwood is a Filipino citizen and can play for the Philippine Team in the Beijing Olympics, the Department of Justice said Wednesday.

In a four-page legal opinion, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said Norwood, who was born on February 9, 1985 in North Carolina, can be considered a Filipino because his mother Tiffiny Sainte Hardy was a minor when she gave birth to the cager in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Being a minor who had no chance to elect Philippine citizenship, Tiffiny has dual citizenship despite her marriage to an Afro-American, Gonzalez said.

"The general rule that a married woman follows the nationality of her husband presupposes a nationality in her husband. Where no such nationality exists the rule does not apply. Ether or both reasons may have been the basis for her mother's being described as a Filipino in her birth certificate," Gonzalez said.

"Accordingly, having been born on February 9, 1985, of a Filipino mother makes Gabriel Daniel Norwood, a Filipino citizen under Sec. 1(2) of Article 3 of the 1973 Constitution which declares as citizens of the Philippines those whose fathers or mothers are citizens of the Philippines at the time of their birth,” he said.

“As such, he should have the right to be issued a Philippine passport in accordance with Section 5 of RA 8239," Gonzalez said.

Norwood is set to play in Japan for a qualifying tournament for the Olympic Games.