CLARK Freeport, Pampanga—A ranking opposition official on Monday cautioned the Supreme Court justices against toying with the Constitution on the disqualification cases against presidential candidate Senator Grace Poe of the Partido Galing at Puso or they would face impeachment proceedings.
Former House Minority Leader Danilo Suarez, who is running unopposed for the congressional seat representing Quezon, issued the warning a day before the high tribunal hands down its decision on whether or not Poe is qualified to run for president.
“The Supreme Court is the final arbiter of the highest law of the land and the Constitution’s mandate is very clear on the residency requirement,” said Suarez, the campaign manager of Vice President Jejomar Binay who is running for president under the banner of the United Nationalist Alliance.
“A presidential candidate, to qualify for the race, must have resided in the country as a Filipino citizen for a minimum of 10 years. Misinterpreting the Constitution is a ground for impeachment.”
Apparently not wanting to get embroiled in the impeachment issue, UNA communications director Joey Salgado clarified Suarez’s statement was not the opposition party’s official position.
Suarez contradicted the positions of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno and Associate Justices Marvic Leonen and Francis Jardeleza, who invoked the rights of the senator as a foundling.
In last month’s hearing, Jardeleza questioned Commission on Elections Commissioner Arthur Lim and the magistrate insisted Poe was deprived of her right to due process when the poll body disqualified her.
“How was Poe deprived? She was asked to present her evidence to support her claim she is a natural-born citizen, but those were not enough to convince the Comelec,” Suarez said.
“Why are they zeroing in only on the foundling issue? There are other issues enough to merit Poe’s disqualification according to the SC justices themselves based on their previous ruling. All they have to do is go back to their decision on the cases of the Kauswagan and the Basista mayors.”
Suarez said that in October 2015, the high court disqualified Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte Mayor Rommel Arnaldo in the 2013 mayoral elections for having continued to use a foreign passport even after he renounced his US citizenship.
Last January, the same set of high court justices again affirmed the Comelec’s ouster of another winner of the 2013 mayoralty race in Basista, Pangasinan, Manolito de Leon, over the same offense, using his passport even after he had renounced his United States citizenship.
