[REPOST] SC strikes down Poe disqualification

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The Supreme Court (SC) has reversed the disqualification of Sen. Grace Poe from the May presidential elections.

The tribunal sitting en banc voted 9-6, granting Poe’s petitions against the Commission on Elections (comelec) decisions last December cancelling her certificate of candidacy (COC) for president.

• Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno
• Justice Presbiterio Velasco
• Justice Diosdao Peralta
• Justice Lucas Bersamin
• Justice Jose Perez
• Justice Jose Mendoza
• Justice Marvic Leonen
• Justice Francis Jardeleza
• Justice Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa

• Justice Antonio Carpio
• Justice Teresita Leonardo-De Castro
• Justice Mariano Del Castillo
• Justice Estela Perlas-Bernabe
• Justice Bienvenido Reyes
• Justice Arturo Brion

SC spokesperson Theodore Te said the high court will release copies of the decision and separate opinions of the justices “in the next few days.”

“As you may understand, upon the voting the Court will then finalize who will write for the Court,” said Te.

“That matter has not yet been decided, and once the ponente has been decided, the text of the decision will follow,” he added.

The petitions filed by Poe were submitted for resolution last week after parties in the case — Poe, the Comelec, and the private complainants — as well as the Office of the Solicitor General submitted their respective memoranda, which contained reiterations of and clarifications to their positions on the matter.

The SC concluded its five-round oral arguments on Poe’s petitions last February 16, as Sereno gave the parties five days or until February 22 to submit their memoranda, before the case is deemed submitted for resolution.

Those who submitted their memoranda were Poe, the Comelec, and the Office of the Solicitor General acting as “tribune of the people,” and private complainants against Poe including former University of the East law dean Amado Valdez, De La Salle University political science professor Antonio Contreras, lawyer Estrella Elamparo, and former senator Francisco Tatad.

Shocked by result

Two of the private petitioners against Poe expressed shock about the result.

Lawyer Manuelito Luna, counsel for Tatad, described the SC decision as a “dangerous result.”

“A perfect recipe for chaos. The Constitution was bastardized. The people will never accept it. We will file a motion for reconsideration as soon as it becomes official,” he said.

Elamparo echoed this though.

“Although I’ve been hearing about this scenario, I am still shocked because the law is so clear. I cannot comment beyond that because I have not read the Decision,” she said.

Contreras, for his part, said the decision was a loss for the rule of law.

“I will try to respect the decision that I vehemently reject. Nine members of the Court decided to reverse the well-established jurisprudence on residence. I pity those who were disqualified earlier who were similarly situated as her,” he wrote on his Facebook account.

“It is surely one of the lowest point in the history of our country.”

Adopted foundling

All private complainants against Poe insisted in their memoranda that the high court would not be doing an injustice to Poe and foundlings should it decide to uphold her disqualification.

Poe is an adopted foundling from Iloilo. She migrated to the US to finish college and start a family, and later became a naturalized US citizen, then a dual citizen in 2006, and renounced her US citizenship in 2010 before becoming a senator in 2013.

In its ruling last December 23, the Comelec en banc upheld the First and Second divisions’ rulings disqualifying Poe from the presidential election.

The en banc voted 5-2 to uphold the First Division’s decision on the petitions filed by Tatad, Contreras and Valdez.

The en banc, meanwhile, voted 5-1-1 to uphold the decision of the Second Division on Elamparo’s petition.

The SC has since issued a temporary restraining order on Poe’s disqualification and slated oral arguments on the matter.

The poll body earlier this month started to print the ballots with Poe’s name on it, and aims to finish printing some 57 million ballots by April 25. It has allotted 14 days to reprint rejected ballots and maintain printing machines.

Oral arguments

During the first round of oral arguments on January 19, Poe’s camp, through lawyer Alexander Poblador, cited the case of the senator’s father, Fernando Poe Jr., to defend the lawmaker’s citizenship qualification, and the case of former First Lady Imelda Marcos to defend her residency.

Two justices — De Castro and Peralta — both said the senator’s case cannot be compared either with her father’s or Marcos’ cases.

“There is a difference there because Mrs. Marcos never acquired American citizenship… Mrs. Marcos never lost her Filipino citizenship. According to her, she was forced to go to the US because of their condition after the EDSA revolution,” said Peralta.

“There is marked difference between the jurisprudence you are citing and the provision of international law that you are invoking,” De Castro said.

The international law that De Castro refered to was the 1930 Hague Convention and the 1962 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, which Poblador cited to insist that Poe is a natural-born Filipino.

Second round

On the second round of oral arguments, Poblador maintained that Poe’s use of her US passport from 2005 until 2010 should not affect her reacquisition of Filipino citizenship in 2006. The lawyer said that the US passport has no connection with her citizenship.

Sereno, during interpellation, said that justices have to be “careful” in reading laws and decisions pertaining to adoption and status of foundlings as it may come with “unintended consequences” on policies that apply to children of unknown biological parents.

The chief justice pointed to several laws and court decisions, notably Article XV of the Civil Code, R.A. 8552 (Domestic Adoption Act of 1998), and Ching Leng v. Galang, where the Supreme Court ruled that adoption does not automatically confer citizenship on the adoptee.

Third and fourth rounds

During the third round of oral arguments, Sereno said the high court can presume—and has presumed in the past—that people, including foundlings, are natural-born Filipinos.

Sereno warned again of dire implications for the country’s foundlings. especially those working in government, if the SC comes up with a ruling that will strip them of their rights as Filipino citizens.

Jardeleza said during the fourth round of oral arguments that the Comelec might have “crossed the line” and violated Poe’s right to due process when it cancelled her COC without considering the evidence on her citizenship and residency.

Fifth round

During the final round of oral arguments, De Castro required Solicitor General Florin Hilbay to include in his memorandum his legal basis for saying that foundlings are natural-born citizens as a matter of right.

De Castro also wanted to learn from Hilbay why Poe “concealed” her being a foundling and adopted child when she applied for dual citizenship in 2006.

Del Castillo, meanwhile, asked Valdez why he mentioned in his complaint against Poe the two properties that Poe continues to maintain in the US.

Valdez said it was curious that Poe had returned to the Philippines in 2005 “yet left properties [in the US] which could be tell-tale signs of wanting to still remain in the US.”

Article of gmanetwork.com