The Supreme Court is expected to deliberate this week the motions for reconsideration filed by the Commission on Elections and other respondents seeking a reversal of its March 8 decision declaring Senator Grace Poe qualified to run for president in the May 9 election.
A Court insider revealed that the MRs of the Comelec and the four petitioners who sought the disqualification of Poe at the Comelec have been included in the agenda of the justices when they hold their first summer en banc session in Baguio City on Tuesday.
The SC magistrates are expected to resolve the appeals of the movants to reconsider their 9-6 ruling that the Comelec committed grave abuse of discretion in disqualifying the senator for material misrepresentation over her citizenship and residency issues.
Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno earlier said the high court considers Poe’s cases and other election related cases a “priority” considering there is just about a month left before the May 9 polls.
In its 56-page motion for reconsideration, the Comelec asked the SC to reconsider the March 8 decision and instead affirm its disqualification of the senator for material misrepresentation in her Certificate of Candidacy.
The four disqualification petitioners against Poe — former Senator Franciso “Kit” Tatad, De La Salle University Prof. Antonio Contreras, former Government Service Insurance System counsel Estrella Elamparo and former University of the East College of Law dean Amado Valdez – also filed their respective motion for reconsideration of the high court ruling.
They insisted that Poe, a frontrunner in the presidential race, lacks the citizenship and residency eligibilities and warned about repercussions of the Court decision.
