Petitioners vs Poe await full SC ruling

Senator Grace Poe. PHOTO BY: JAY MORALES

Private respondents who lost their bid to disqualify Sen. Grace Poe from the presidential race are waiting for the Supreme Court to release its full ruling so they can file a motion for reconsideration.

The high court has yet to come out with the full text of the landmark decision that saw nine justices voting to overturn the Commission of Election’s disqualification of Poe, while six justices voted to uphold the poll body’s ruling.

Associate Justice Jose Perez, who is set to retire in December this year, has been assigned to write the court’s majority opinion after the original draft by Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo lost in the voting.

It is still not clear how the court tackled the citizenship and residency issues, the core matters of contention in Poe’s case.

Four others in the majority are expected to issue separate concurring opinions, while five from the dissenting side are also expected to come up with the explanations, according to a court source privy to Tuesday’s en banc deliberations.

“The respondents are entitled to file a motion for reconsideration within 15 days from receipt (of the decision). That right may be rendered futile if the issuance of the decision is delayed,” said former Government Service Insurance System chief legal counsel Estrella Elamparo.

The lawyer, among four petitioners for the disqualification of Poe said the high court should release the ruling at “the soonest possible time.”

Former University of the East law dean Amado Valdez hoped the ruling would come out “this week or early next week” so the public would better understand how the high court reached its decision.

 Justify reacquirement of status

“It’s important to know how the Supreme Court will explain the abandonment of judicial precedents on residency and the justification for why a Filipino who renounced her citizenship can reacquire natural-born status when she had to perform an act to acquire and perfect it,” Valdez said when asked to comment on the decision Wednesday.

“These issues should be part of the public debate and it takes time for laymen to grasp its significance,” he said in a text message.

Lawyer Manuelito Luna, who represents former Senator Francisco “Kit” Tatad in the case, said he would file a motion for reconsideration on Monday if the ruling is released this week.