THE Supreme Court on Tuesday affirmed the temporary restraining orders issued by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno stopping the Commission on Elections from implementing its decision canceling the Certificate of Candidacy of Senator Grace Poe for the May 9 presidential race.
Voting 12-3, the Court affirmed the Dec. 28, 2015 TROs stopping the Comelec from excluding Poe from the list of presidential candidates.
Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, Associate Justices Teresita Leonardo de Castro and Arturo Brion, all members of the Senate Electoral Tribunal who voted for Poe’s disqualification, dissented.
“The Court, 12-3, voted to confirm the temporary restraining orders issued by the Chief Justice on 28 December 2015 in these two cases,” high court spokesman Theodore Te told reporters.
Poe on Tuesday said the high court’s decision was good for her supporters and the country’s democracy. She said it bolstered her stance that she is qualified to run for president in the May elections.
Poe’s spokesman, Valenzuela City Mayor Rex Gatchalian, said they were very thankful to “the Honorable Supreme Court for upholding the issuances of the TROs last month.”
He said the TROs prevented an injustice from taking place.
The two TROs issued by Sereno stopped the Comelec from implementing the Comelec’s en banc decisions that upheld the resolution of its First and Second Divisions.
The First Division canceled Poe’s CoC as a result of the questions on her citizenship and residency raised by former Senator Francisco Tatad, Amado Valdez and Antonio Contreras.
The Comelec’s Second Division canceled Poe’s CoC based on the petition filed by lawyer Estrella Elamparo claiming she failed to meet the constitutional requirement of a 10-year residency for presidential candidates.
Sereno issued the restraining order based on the recommendation of the justice-in-charge pursuant to the Supreme Court’s Internal Rules.
The high court also confirmed the setting of Poe’s petitions for oral arguments at 2 p.m. on Jan. 19.
However, the oral arguments on the petition of Rizalito David assailing the decision of the Senate Electoral Tribunal declaring Poe a natural-born Filipino has been rescheduled for another date that the Court will soon announce.
In a petition on Dec. 28 last year, Poe asked the high court to reverse the decision of the Comelec canceling her Certificate of Candidacy and allow her to run for president in the May national elections.