Poe has 1.5 days to get SC order keeping name on poll ballot

MANILA, Philippines — As she fights to stay in the presidential race, Senator Grace Poe has exactly one and a half days left to seek an urgent order from the Supreme Court to stop her disqualification.

The judiciary has only Dec. 28 and the morning of Dec. 29 as the remaining working days before going on break for the New Year. Regular work will then resume on Jan. 4.

A circular earlier released by the Office of the Court Administrator showed that the judiciary, including the high court, will resume regular work after Christmas only on Monday and Tuesday morning, before taking the rest of the week off.

The schedule covers the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals, the Sandiganbayan, the Court of Tax Appeals, Regional Trial Courts, Shari’a District Courts, Metropolitan Trial Court, Municipal Trial Courts and Municipal and Shari’a Circuit Courts.

Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno said earlier this month that justices of the Supreme Court have prepared to handle urgent petitions over the holidays, saying it “will not be a usual season for us.”

She said the court’s 15 justices “will be making themselves available for any eventuality.”

The Commission on Elections en banc on Wednesday upheld rulings of two of its divisions disqualifying Poe as presidential candidate on account of her questionable citizenship and residency in the Philippines.

The cancellation of her Certificate of Candidacy would become final and executory after five days, which falls on Monday, the 28th. Comelec Chair Andres Bautista has said “it depends” how long Poe’s name would remain on the initial list of candidates in the wake of her disqualification.

By the first week of February, Comelec is expected to begin printing ballots for the May 2016 polls.  SFM