Ex-UE law dean urges SC to affirm Poe’s DQ

FORMER University of the East Law Dean Amado Valdez said the Commission on Elections (Comelec) acted “with fairness, justice and sense of duty” when it issued a ruling ordering the cancellation of Senator Grace Poe’s certificate of candidacy (COC) for presidency.

In a 71-page comment/opposition to Poe’s petition for certiorari, Valdez urged the high court to affirm the decision of the Comelec.

He also called on the high court to lift the restraining order against the Comelec.

“Guided by a judicious scrutiny of the spirit and letter of the Constitution, applicable laws and jurisprudence and in the light of judicial precedents and principles shaped by technical experience, logic, common sense, and the law vis-a-vis the partisan and self-serving point of view of the petitioner, the Honorable Comelec acted with fairness, justice and sense of duty according to the urgency of the circumstances when it issued the resolution,” Valdez told the high court.

“The issues were argued and tested freely in a soul-searching debate by and among the petitioner private respondent, and the honorable commissioners in open hearing as well as in the Comelec’s internal exchanges in official sessions,” Valdez added.

Valdez is one of the petitioners against Poe before the Comelec. Others who questioned Poe’s citizenship and residency qualifications were former Senator Francisco Tatad and Law Professor Antonio Contreras.

The Comelec first division affirmed their petition. The first division’s ruling was upheld by the Comelec en banc with a vote of 5-2.