Heed public opinion on Poe verdict, Tatad urges SC

In a bid to convince the Supreme Court to stop Sen. Grace Poe’s presidential bid, one of her critics decided to quote her rival in the Malacañang race.

Former Sen. Francisco “Kit” Tatad on Friday asked the high court to take judicial notice of published comments that personalities, lawyers and columnists had made on the March 8 decision that allowed Poe to run, among them Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.

Duterte is Poe’s runner-up in the latest Pulse Asia survey, separated by four points: The former got 24 percent while the latter is on top at 28 percent.

Tatad’s four-page manifestation said Duterte, in a published news report, “had warned that the court’s ruling on Poe could create chaos.”  The presidential candidate, also a lawyer, had said he disagreed with the court’s definition of who should be considered natural-born.

Duterte’s comments were among the criticisms that the manifestation cited, along with 11 other column pieces and news reports that quoted legal experts countering the high court decision.

“Tatad respectfully pleads the Honorable Court to grant him leave of court and to admit request for judicial notice of the afore-mentioned Internet articles they being relevant to the arguments raised in respondents’  motions for reconsideration of the decision,” read the pleading filed yesterday through his counsel Manuelito Luna.

The manifestation said “questions on Poe’s eligibility to run for President refuse to die,” even after the high court granted her plea to stop the Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) order disqualifying her from the race.

It cited previous cases where the Supreme Court cited media reports in its rulings, saying the court’s cognizance of public opinion would be in “the higher interest of justice.”

Tatad filed the pleading in hopes of bolstering the reconsideration plea that private respondents filed to seek the high court’s reversal of its decision, which had ruled that the Comelec had committed grave abuse of discretion in canceling Poe’s certificate of candidacy.

The high court also upheld that Poe was natural-born and that she had satisfied the 10-year residency requirement for presidential candidates.