Questions on Poe stand, say lawyers

Senator Grace Poe. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/JEOFFREY MAITEM

THE INTEGRATED Bar of the Philippines’  position is that legal questions on the citizenship and residency of Sen. Grace Poe still stand despite the Supreme Court allowing her to run for president, and this could only be settled by the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET).

In a statement, the IBP board of governors said a reading of the main decision and opinions of the justices would show that the high court had not resolved the issues of Poe’s status as a natural-born Filipino and a 10-year resident of the Philippines.

“While the decision appears to have rendered an opinion as to whether [Poe] is natural-born as well as whether she has satisfied the 10-year residency requirement, it should be emphasized  the dispositive portion of the decision merely orders the reversal of the decisions of the Commission on Elections granting the petitions to disqualify her… and states that she is qualified to be a candidate for president,” said the IBP statement.

“It can be concluded that the decision did not settle the matter of whether Poe is a natural-born citizen and whether she has met the residency requirement under the law,” the 10-member IBP board, chaired by IBP president Rosario Setias-Reyes, said. Jerome Aning