THE Supreme Court’s justices are scheduled to hold special en banc sessions starting today to resolve the petitions of Senator Grace Poe seeking to reverse the Commission on Elections’ decision canceling her Certificate of Candidacy for this year’s elections.
A highly placed source said the justices would likely vote on Poe’s petitions assailing the Comelec ruling disqualifying her from running for president because she is not a natural-born Filipino citizen and she failed the 10-year residency requirement.
Retired Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban on Monday said there was no reason why the Supreme Court should uphold the Comelec’s cancellation of Poe’s Certificate of Candidacy.
He said even if the entries on Poe’s citizenship and residence were false, Poe’s CoC could not be canceled in the absence of proof that those misrepresentations are “intentional, deliberate and willful.”
Poe on Monday said she remained hopeful that the high court would find for her.
Poe, who continues to lead the pre-election surveys, said the merits of her case and the positive statements of the magistrates including Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno were giving her hope.
“We are continuously praying and hoping based on what we have been hearing from the Supreme Court,” Poe said.
The high court insider said the justices initially set the deliberations in a regular session today following the submission of a draft decision last week.
However, since the concurring and dissenting opinions had yet to be submitted by some justices today, they decided to just hold a special session for the voting.
The draft decision of the assigned justice reportedly affirmed the Comelec decisions disqualifying Poe for material misrepresentation in her Certificate of Candidacy by claiming that she met the 10-year residency requirement before the May elections.
It also appeared that the draft decision was silent on the issue of Poe’s eligibility for being a foundling since the justice-in-charge believed that the high court could resolve the case without the need to rule on such contentious issue.
The source said the other magistrates were expected to disagree on this opinion with the belief that the senator was eligible for the presidency and would meet the required residency.
Observers in the judiciary said Poe’s petitions would likely be granted by the majority of the high court justices.
The source cited the sympathetic opinions by some of the magistrates.
“Based on the opinions made by Chief Justice [Maria Lourdes] Sereno and the other justices appointed by President Aquino, you can observe that they are inclined to agree with the arguments of Poe’s lawyers during the oral arguments,” the source said.
The source was referring to the opinions expressed by Sereno, Associate Justices Marvic Leonen and Francis Jardeleza that tended to support Poe’s petitions that the Comelec committed grave abuse of discretion when it canceled her CoC for the May 9 elections.
“The Sereno bloc, which is composed of six justices, will just need at least two more justices to vote in favor of granting Poe’s petition to set aside the Comelec decision and allow her to run for president,” the source said.