By David Cagahastian
PALACE officials said on Wednesday that it is better to wait for the Supreme Court’s (SC) decision on the disqualification cases against presidential candidate Sen. Grace Poe than dwell on the reported statements of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno during the oral arguments which are apparently in Poe’s favor.
“It is best that we wait for the Supreme Court en banc decision on the disqualification case and not rely on the opinion of a single individual,” Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said.
During the oral arguments at the SC on the disqualification cases against Poe, Sereno cited the implications of ruling that a foundling such as Poe is not a natural-born Filipino, such as they would not qualify to be appointed as justices, nor can they be elected as senator or congressman.
“If I am going to say that a foundling is not a natural-born Filipino citizen, that they cannot hold thousands of offices that require natural-born citizens, [does it mean that] any of those persons holding any of those positions who is alleged to be a foundling, must be removed?” Sereno asked at the oral arguments on Tuesday.
Presidential Communications Secretary Herminio B. Coloma Jr. said that, in deference to the independence of the Court, Malacañang officials should withhold their comments on the leanings of individual justices.
Elections Commissioner Arthur Lim, however, clarified that the Commission on Elections’s (Comelec) decision on the disqualifications cases against Poe were arrived at upon a finding that she made false material representation in her certificate of candidacy (COC), which is a ground for the cancellation of the certificate, although some of the original petitions filed against Poe at the Comelec had indeed raised, as issues questions regarding her natural-born status, such as those filed by former Sen. Francisco Tatad and former University of the East College of Law Dean Amado Valdez.
The material misrepresentation that was found to be false by the Comelec is her claim in her COC that she meets the 10-year residency requirement for presidential candidates.
However, the Comelec cited her earlier manifestation in her COC when she ran for senator in 2013 that she was a resident of the Philippines for “six years and six months,” thus, by the time of the May 2016 elections, she would not have yet completed a residency of at least 10 years that is mandated by the Constitution as a qualification for a president.
The Comelec en banc earlier affirmed the decisions of its First Division and the Second Division, which each handled petitions to cancel Poe’s COC, prompting Poe to go to the SC to appeal the Comelec en banc decisions.