Escudero wants high court to castigate Comelec for ‘bullying’ Poe

SEN. FRANCIS Escudero on Sunday expressed hope that the Supreme Court would take the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to task for “bullying” Sen. Grace Poe when members of the high tribunal start oral arguments on her petitions against the poll body on Jan. 19.

“If it’s not bullying or harassment, I don’t know what it is,” Escudero said of the Comelec in protest of its decisions to disqualify Poe from the presidential race in May.

Escudero is the vice presidential running mate of Poe, whose qualifications to run for president in May are being questioned such as her being a natural born Filipino.

In a statement, Escudero maintained that the Comelec committed “grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction.”

He noted that the poll body acted immediately on Poe’s disqualification “ahead of the obvious nuisance candidates like Lucifer and Intergalactic ambassador.”

Likewise, Escudero scored the refusal of the Comelec to consolidate the four petitions against Poe “if only to require her to answer before the two Comelec divisions and be disqualified, not only once, but twice.”

“To top it all, the Comelec full commission threw out her appeal two days before Christmas,” Escudero said.

This made it hard and gave little time for Poe to go to the high court, he said, but added that it was a good thing Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno issued a temporary restraining order on the Comelec resolution disqualifying Poe.