MANILA – The naturalization of Spanish football player Bienvenido Marañon and Ivorian basketball player Angelo Kouame has gained approval from House of Representatives’ Justice Committee.
The two separate measures, which will grant Filipino citizenships to Maranon and Kouame, were passed by the House panel on Thursday afternoon and will be tackled today before the House Plenary.
“In my case I will try to do my best. I hope to work with Azkals as a Filipino. I would like my dream to come true,” answered Marañon when asked by House Justice Committee chair Rep. Vicente Veloso III about his desire to become Filipino and play for the Philippine Azkals in the future.
Marañon was a native of El Puerto Spain. Before moving to the country, he had played for third and fourth-division clubs in Spain. He was a part of Ceres-Negros Football Club on 2015 and a top scorer of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup in 2019, an annual continental club football competition organized by AFC.
On the other hand, Kouame, who is a member of Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles is one step away to becoming a Filipino citizen.
The aim to naturalize Kouame is to “create a pool of naturalized players,” said Deputy Speaker Roberto Puno.
“Pagalingan ngayon ng pag-naturalize ng players because in the world now, the definition of a national team is, 11 natural-born players and one naturalized player,” said Puno who is also the vice-chairman of Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas./PN
