Comelec asks SC to reverse decision allowing Poe to run

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to reverse its decision allowing Sen. Grace Poe to run for president and sought a redeliberation on her qualifications.

In its 56-page motion for reconsideration, the poll body said Poe’s petition should be dismissed for lack of merit.

Taking a cue on the dissenting opinions of several justices including Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, Comelec insisted that there was no majority vote finding the lawmaker natural-born Filipino.

“Hence, there is no factual or legal basis for the ruling that the petitioner is a qualified candidate for president in the May 9, 2016, national elections,” the motion stated.

“There is therefore a need for the court to redeliberate and revote on the issue of citizenship to avoid the dire repercussions that the majority decision has brought in its wake … With due respect, the court should reexamine its majority decision, for its legal and constitutional infirmities and more importantly, for having heightened political passions in the country that could ignite civil strife,” it added.

Carpio, in his dissenting opinion, said only seven of the 15 justices voted on the issue of citizenship.

Comelec pointed out that under Section 2, Rule 12 of the Supreme Court Internal Rules of Procedures, when “the necessary majority vote cannot be had, the court shall deliberate on it anew.”

“Such action of redeliberating and revoting will serve as a shining example to the Bar and Bench that in deciding a case especially one involving the fundamental law, nothing but the Constitution, law and jurisprudence should be the overriding factors and considerations,” Comelec said.

Comelec also insisted that Poe failed to meet the 10-year residency requirement as it echoed the arguments raised by Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro in her dissenting opinion.

Voting 9-6 in allowing Poe to run for president, the high court gave weight on Poe’s “good faith” defense that the mistake in her COC was an honest one.

It added that statistics could not be used to determine whether an individual was a natural-born Filipino or not.

The majority ruling of the high court relied heavily on the statistics presented by Solicitor General Florin Hilbay saying majority of the people in Iloilo, where Poe was found, were Filipinos.

“The statistics presented by the solicitor general and the petitioner does not constitute even substantial evidence that petitioner was born to a Filipino parent, and hence is a natural-born citizen,” the Comelec said.

“By considering the statistics presented by the solicitor general, the ponencia unfairly ascribed grave abuse of discretion to the Comelec on the basis of evidence that it had no opportunity to rule upon,” it added. RC