Poe files second appeal with Comelec

SEN. GRACE Poe lodged a second appeal yesterday for the full Commission on Elections (Comelec) to reverse a ruling, this time of the First Division disqualifying her from the 2016 presidential race as the en banc continued to deliberate on her presidential bid.

Poe’s lawyer, George Garcia, filed a 91-page verified motion for reconsideration before the full commission five days after the First Division issued the adverse ruling with an argument that it contrasted with the finding of the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET).

“Poe cannot have natural-born citizenship as a senator and at the same time, lack such citizenship as a presidential candidate, or commit deliberate misrepresentation by stating that she is a natural-born Filipino as found by the SET,” she said in her motion.

On Dec. 11, the First Division voted 2-1 to cancel Poe’s certificate of candidacy (COC) for President, after finding that she “committed material misrepresentation” when she claimed to be a natural-born citizen and had resided in the Philippines for at least 10 years.

The ruling stemmed from the petitions filed by former University of the East law dean Amado Valdez, former Sen. Kit Tatad and De La Salle University professor Antonio Contreras.

In her motion filed yesterday, Poe pointed out that the First Division “chose to be liberal” in not dismissing outright Tatad’s petition even if it had “fatal procedural defects.”

In an interview with reporters, Garcia said Tatad raised the wrong remedy in his petition, which was to disqualify Poe when it should have been to cancel Poe’s COC.

“The division had a relaxed treatment even if the petition should have been automatically dismissed…It is very clear in the rules of the Comelec that if the remedy is incorrect even if what you are saying is right, the case should be automatically dismissed,” the lawyer said.

As in her first motion for reconsideration to overturn the Second Division’s ruling, Poe also reiterated all the evidence proving her residence in the Philippines since May 2005 in her second petition.

Garcia also said that he would be asking the full commission to consolidate the two appeals in a formal petition today.

Election Commissioner Rowena Guanzon yesterday disclosed that she already cast her vote before the full commission adjourned its special session yesterday. The other commissioners, including Comelec Chair Andres Bautista, have yet to make a vote on the case, she said.