Poe: I’m ready for whatever SC decides

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines—Sen. Grace Poe said she would accept whatever decision the Supreme Court could hand down in the disqualification case against her.

“For me, (my) purpose in running (for president) is not personal so it would be easy to accept whatever the decision would be, Poe said during a sortie here on Friday.

She said she was happy because in a week or two, the Supreme Court decision would be known.

Earlier, she said she was hoping for a favorable decision and maintained that she was a natural-born Filipino.

Poe’s running mate, Sen. Francis Escudero said a lot of speculation had come out because of a report on an adverse draft decision.

I’d like to clarify the process in the Supreme Court. When a case has been raffled off to a particular magistrate, that magistrate would write the draft decision, which will then be circulated among the other justices. The 14 other justices also have the right to write their own ponencia,he said.

Escudero said all the draft decisions would be reported during a meeting of the Supreme Court justices and will be voted upon.

He said this could take place perhaps by Tuesday or Thursday.

The draft decision that receives the majority vote will become the collegial decision of the high court, he said.

Escudero said this was why their camp was not alarmed by the supposed adverse decision that had been leaked because it was the not yet the final decision of the high court.

Whatever speculation on the voting trend there is now—10-5, 8-7, 9-6—it remains as speculation. There has been no voting yet. So whoever speculated on the numbers clearly did not know what he was saying. Even the magistrates themselves do not know at this point what the numbers would  be, Escudero added.

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