2nd bid to change ruling allowing Poe to run for president junked

Senator Grace Poe. INQUIRER.net PHOTO

The Supreme Court has dismissed a second bid to reverse its March 8 decision allowing Senator Grace Poe to run for president.

In Tuesday’s en banc summer session, the high court denied the second motion for reconsideration filed by former Senator Francisco “Kit” Tatad.

“The Court denied the second motion for reconsideration filed by petitioner Francisco S. Tatad, through counsel for lack of merit and for being a prohibited pleading under the Rules,” high court’s Information Chief Theodore Te said at a press conference.

READ: Appeal to reverse SC ruling on Poe DQ case up for deliberation

“The Court also ordered the same [second motion for reconsideration] expunged from the records of this case,” Te added.

Tatad, in his second motion for reconsideration, insisted before the high court that its decision in favor of Poe “lacks doctrinal value” because “no majority opined that the petitioner is a natural born-Filipino citizen and has met the residency requirement.”

READ: SC ruling on Poe case ‘lacks doctrinal value,’ Tatad says

Manuelito Luna, counsel for Tatad, said that while the voting to dismiss the petition was 9-6, concurring and dissenting opinions would show that only 7 justices believed that Poe is a natural-born Filipino citizen.

Echoing Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio’s dissent, Luna said “since all 15 members of the Court actually took part in the deliberations on the issue and voted on the sole issue of whether to grant or dismiss the petitions, and less than a majority opined that she is a natural-born citizen, then there is no ruling on her citizenship status.”

Last March 8, voting 9-6, the high court stated that there is no material misrepresentation on the part of Poe when she declared in her certificate of candidacy (COC) that she is a natural-born Filipino and a resident of the country for 10 years.

READ: It’s final: SC says Poe can run

The high court in the same ruling also said that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) committed grave abuse of discretion when it ordered Poe’s COC to be cancelled. It added that Comelec has no jurisdiction to decide on the qualifications of presidential and vice presidential candidates.

The high court added that it will no longer accept any more pleadings and motions related to Poe’s case. RAM