THE Commission on Elections on Tuesday urged the Supreme Court to reconsider its March 8 decision declaring Senator Grace Poe is qualified to run for president in the May 9 general elections.
The poll body also sided with the dissenting opinions on Poe’s cases, saying there was no majority vote finding Poe a natural-born Filipino.
“Hence, there is no factual or legal basis for the ruling that the petitioner [Poe] is a qualified candidate for president in the 9 May 2016 national elections,” the Comelec said in its motion.
“There is therefore a need for the court to re-deliberate and re-vote on the issue of citizenship to avoid the dire repercussions that the majority decision has brought in its wake.”
The Supreme Court had granted Poe’s petitions asking it to dismiss the Comelec’s ruling disqualifying her to run for president because she lacked residency and that she was not a natural-born citizen.
But in seeking a re-voting on Poe’s cases, the Comelec said: “With due respect, the court should re-examine its majority decision for its legal and constitutional infirmities and more importantly, for having heightened political passions in the country that could ignite civil strife.”
Associate Justice Antonio Carpio had dissented against the high court’s decision favoring Poe, claiming only seven of his colleagues ruled that Poe was a natural-born Filipino while he and four others voted against her. The remaining three justices chose not to decide on Poe’s citizenship.
However, Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno rejected Carpio’s position, saying there was a majority vote resolving Poe’s citizenship because only 12 justices opted to participate in the voting. She stressed that a vote of 7-5 was clearly constituting a majority.
