WITH all commissioners concurring, the Commission on Elections on Monday asked the Supreme Court to dismiss the petition of Senator Grace Poe seeking to reverse the poll body’s decision to disqualify her from running for president this year.
The comment, written by Commissioner Arthur Lim, was signed by all the Comelec en banc members, including Chairman Andres Bautista and Commissioner Rowena Guanzon, Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said.
“The commissioners were given the opportunity to comment on the draft and that was what took up the entire morning. Comments and opinions were solicited from each member of the en banc. Then after that, they all signed the comment,” Jimenez said.
Lawyers who filed the comment on behalf of the Comelec declined to give copies of it to the press, saying these could be obtained from the poll agency’s main office in Intramuros.
The Comelec also adopted a resolution authorizing Lim to act as counsel for the poll body.
Bautista affixed his signature to the comment, with a note: “Subject to the concurring and dissenting opinion dated 12/23/15.”
Commissioner Luie Tito Guia also wrote “subject to my separate opinion,” while Commissioner Robert Lim indicated he inhibited from the proceedings.
“In order to succeed, the petitioner [Poe] has to manifestly show before the Honorable Court that the Comelec committed grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction when it promulgated its 23 December 2015 resolution,” the Comelec said, in seeking the dismissal of Poe’s second petition seeking to reverse the poll body’s ruling that disqualified her from running for president.
“The Comelec will not shirk from its bounden duty and constitutional mandate to conduct clean, orderly, honest and credible elections,” the comment said.
“An essential ingredient of orderly and credible elections is for Comelec to ensure the candidates for public office comply with eligibility requirements mandated by the Constitution, without fear or favor,” it added.
The Comelec also argued that it is not legally bound to take judicial notice of and apply the November 2015 decision of the Senate Electoral Tribunal declaring Poe a natural-born Filipino.
It asserted that foundlings are not among those enumerated as Filipino citizens under the 1935 Constitution. It said provisions of international law that Poe’s camp cited cannot legitimize her claim that she is natural-born.
“Petitioner’s statement in her subject CoC as to her citizenship and presidency is in and by itself a deliberate attempt to mislead the electorate or hide from them her ineligibility for the Office of the President of the Philippines,” the Comelec said.
On the issue of Poe’s residency requirements, the Comelec maintained that her residence in the Philippines was re-established only on July 18 when she re-acquired her Filipino citizenship.
The Comelec cited Poe’s admission against interest when she declared in her CoC for her senatorial bid in 2013 that she has been a Philippine resident since November 2006. The poll body added that it considered other pieces of evidence, other than Poe’s 2013 CoC for senator, in coming out with the resolution.
“There is substantial evidence on record pointing to petitioner’s deliberate and false material representation in her CoC as to her citizenship and residency,” the Comelec said.
Last week, the Comelec filed its first comment on Poe’s other petition challenging the poll body en banc’s upholding of the separate petition filed by former Senator Francisco Tatad, former University of the East law dean Amado Valdez, and political analyst Antonio Contreras.
The comment triggered a row between Bautista and its author, Guanzon, when she submitted it to the Supreme Court without his signature.
The Comelec was compelled to look for its own lawyer after the Office of the Solicitor General declined to represent the poll body before the Supreme Court because it was already defending the Senate Electoral Tribunal on a Poe-related case.
The Comelec will deliberate today (Tuesday) on the comment filed by Guazon last week.
In the Dec. 23, 2015 ruling that Poe is contesting before the Supreme Court, the Comelec en banc dismissed Poe’s petitions against the separate rulings of the First and Second Divisions, which both cancelled her certificate of candidacy for president.
The en banc voted 5-1-1 upholding the decision of the Second Division on lawyer Estrella Elamparo’s petition because of her failure to meet the constitutional requirement of a 10-year residency for presidential candidates.
The Comelec en banc voted 5-2 to uphold the First Division’s decision disqualifying her from the 2016 presidential election based on questions of citizenship and residency raised by former Tatad, Valdez and Contreras.
A week after Poe contested the Comelec en banc ruling before the Supreme Court, the tribunal issued a temporary restraining order to stop the poll body from disqualifying her.
The Comelec, Tatad, Contreras, and Valdez have all filed their respective comments on Poe’s petition, all of them also seeking the plea’s dismissal.
The Comelec denied suggestions that it is in disarray because of the disagreement between Bautista and Guanzon.
Bautista described his public argument with Guanzon as “a misunderstanding.”
Bautista had publicly castigated Guanzon for submitting her comment to the Supreme Court without letting him review and sign it.
Guanzon shot back that Bautista was not her boss, and that she had the authority of the en banc to draft and submit the comment.
In his memo, Bautista asked Guanzon to explain under whose authority the comment was submitted within 24 hours or he would inform the Supreme Court that it was an unauthorized submission. With John Paolo Bencito
He said the en banc will meet again Tuesday to thresh out the problems concerning Guanzon’s comment.
He added that the en banc had only authorized Guanzon to draft the comment, not to file it with the Supreme Court last week.
Former Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes said the Supreme Court may invalidate the comment submitted by Guanzon if it is proven that she was not authorized to represent the poll body.
He also said that contrary to Guanzon’s claim, Bautista as chairman of the Comelec exercises administrative supervision over all commissioners.
He added that Guanzon cannot file a comment without an en banc resolution authorizing her to do so and to act as counsel for the Comelec.
“My position is that the comment filed by Commissioner Guanzon is not valid without a supporting resolution from the (Comelec) en banc authorizing her to represent or act as counsel on behalf of the commission,” Brillantes said in an interview over radio dzMM.
“The one who can file is the person who is authorized by the en banc through a resolution,” he added.
Poe’s running mate, Senator Francis Escudero, responded to Guanzon’s challenge that he represent Poe in the Supreme Court.
While he can defend Poe in the bar of public opinion, Escudero said the Constitution bars him as a lawmaker from representing anyone before a court of law.
“As a very good lawyer, she should know this,” Escudero said.
“But I throw the question back at her. She cannot and should not be the lawyer of anyone and clearly, she was not authorized by the Comelec and did not represent the Comelec when she filed her comment, so who was she representing or lawyering for?” Escudero said.
Guanzon’s moves, Escudero said, validates their observation that Guanzon was a threat to democracy and the conduct of the May elections.
But a spokesman for administration standard bearer Manuel Roxas II, Rep. Barry Gutierrez, dismissed Escudero’s assessment.
“[Escudero’s] concept of democracy is that he gets what he wants,” Gutierrez said. – With John Paolo Bencito