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Comelec 1st Division cancels Poe's COC for president


Voting 2-1, the Commission on Elections First Division canceled on Friday morning Sen. Grace Poe's certificate of candidacy for president.

The case stemmed from the petitions filed by former Sen. Francisco Tatad, Prof. Antonio Contreras and former UE Law Dean Amado Valdez.

Interviewed on GMA News TV's Balitanghali, Poe's legal counsel, Atty. George Garcia, said those who voted in favor of the petitions against Poe were Commissioners Rowena Guanzon and Luie Tito Guia.

Commissioner Christian Robert Lim dissented.

In a 49-page decision, the Comelec First Division said Poe committed material misrepresentation in her COC and that she "deliberately attempted to deceive and mislead the electorate" on both her citizenship and residency qualifications:

 

   POE-LLAMANZARES - Omnibus Resolution

 

Not natural-born

In its decision, the Comelec division expressed why it did not believe Poe was not a natural-born citizen.

With the Constitution following the principle of jus sanguinis (one's citizenship determined by that of at least one parent), the division said extending the application of the citizenship requirement for president "to those who are not expressedly included in the enumeration and definition of natural-born citizens is a disservice to the rule of law and an affront to the Constitution."

"It will only open the floodgates to unqualified persons whose allegiance to our country is questionable. This We must never allow," the decision read.

It added that Poe's claim that she might be born of a Filipino parent "is not sufficient to prove her case" since she cannot identify her biological parents and cannot "definitively" show direct blood relationship with a Filipino parent.

"Respondent (Poe) cannot shroud her failure to meet this qualification by hiding behind the cloak of probability," it said, adding that the "burden of proof rests on" the senator and "any doubt" on her natural-born status "is resolved against her."

The division also pointed out that Poe's reference to international laws "does very little to further" her cause. It said "nothing in conventional international law justifies Respondent's asseveration that she, being a foundling, is a natural-born Filipino citizen."

It said Poe "failed to present sufficient evidence with which to convince us that the 1930 Hague Convention and/or the CRS (1962 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness) have attained the status of customary international law."

"To agree with Respondent's claim that all foundlings are natural-born Filipinos by presumption of law can result to an absurd situation where a foundling with white skin, green eyes, with hair half blond and half purple -- who was a foundling but later adopted by Filipino parents -- is a natural-born Filipino and may run for elective position of and even sit as President in the future," the decision read.

The division, however, said such assessment does not relegate foundlings into statelessness as they are still seen as Filipino citizens, "only not natural-born."

The First Division also said R.A. 9225 "does not re-vest upon a natural-born Filipino, who was naturalized as a citizen of a foreign country, her original natural-born status," meaning that even if Poe is natural-born, the reacquisition of her Philippine citizenship in July 2006 will not restore her natural-born status.

Lacking residency

Meanwhile, the division said Poe also did not meet the 10-year residency requirement, even when she claims she reestablished domicile in the Philippines starting May 24, 2005, with efforts to relocate, including moving her children to Philippine schools, buying a condominium unit, and building a house here.

It said these acts "are not conclusive evidence to show that Respondent had decided to establish, and in fact established, her permanent domicile in the Philippines."

It also pointed out that Poe's husband "remained a resident of the US in May 2005," and her "frequent travels" to the US using her US passport between 2006 (when she became a dual citizen) and 2010 (when she renounced her American citizenship) "negate her claim that she abandoned her domicile in the US and changed the same to the Philippines on 24 May 2005."

The efforts the senator is citing in her argument "cannot be given weight" as she "was still an American citizen and a foreigner at the time she allegedly commenced the reestablishment of her domicile or permanent residence" here, it added.

The division said the earliest period Poe could have established her domicile was on July 18, 2006, when she reacquired her Philippine citizenship. Her residence before this "is by law temporary in nature" and "only that of a foreign visitor whose stay in impermanent."

Further, it said Poe's intention to reestablish domicile of origin "was manifest only when" she became a registered voter of Barangay Sta. Lucia in San Juan City on August 31, 2006.

Difference in COCs

The First Division said that despite that fact, Poe still stated under oath that she would be a resident for 10 years and 11 months by the May 9, 2016 national elections -- a fact which it said is belied by the COC she filed for the 2013 midterm elections.

In her COC for senator, Poe said she had been a resident for six years and six months, which the division views as "a declaration that her period of residence in the Philippines commenced only sometime in November 2006 and not on 24 May 2005 as she now claims."

It also pointed out that in her COC for president, Poe declared she is a registered voter of Barangay Sta. Lucia, though "at the same time indicating that her residence is in Corinthian Hills, Quezon City."

The division also said the "inconsistency" in her residency claims in her COCs "could not have escaped her."

Poe 'expected to know the law'

The First Division said Poe as a lawmaker "is presumed and expected to know the law."

?"Indeed as a public servant, member of the Philippine Congress -- the country's lawmaking body and third co-equal branch of government -- Respondent is all the most charged and expected to know the law. As a lawmaker, it is Respondent's duty to know, abide by, and apprise herself of the laws of the Republic," it said.

It added: "No amount of polemics and attempts at obfuscating what is already clear in the fundamental law and jurisprudence will hide Respondent's evident intent and attempt to circumvent the law, make a false statement on a material fact, hide her ineligibility, and mislead the electorate."?

Appeal

Poe, meanwhile, immediately released a statement accusing the First Division of ignoring the evidence she presented "just to deny me the chance to better serve our countrymen, and to also deny our people their choices in an open election." 

Acknowledging the setback, Poe said she will appeal the decision with the Comelec en banc and with the Supreme Court.
 
"We will appeal to the Comelec and the Supreme Court to uphold the truth, and the spirit and aims of our Constitution," she said.
 

In the Balitanghali interview, Garcia said the division's decision is not yet final and executory and is subject to a motion for reconsideration.  

"Wala pa rin pong pagbabago, ganun pa rin po ang effect nito ... kami po ay kandidato pa rin ... ang aming pangalan ay nasa listahan pa rin, hindi po magbabago ang lahat," Garcia said. "Kami po ay magfa-file agad ng motion for reconsideration limag araw paglabas ng desisyon na ito."

In a separate interview with GMA News Online, Garcia said the decision, with Lim's dissent, is a "good development," and they will look into the points the commissioner raised in his dissenting opinion.

"Magandang development ito bagamat hindi kami pinalad, kasi po may nagsasabi ng ano ang tama naming ipinupunto at mali," he said.

He added: "Sinabi po sa akin ng mga kawani ko sa opisina, mas makapal po 'di hamak 'yung naging dissenting (opinion) ni Commissioner Lim. Marami siyang pinupunto at pag-aaralan naming mabuti kung ano 'yung mga pinupunto niya."

He also said they will "definitely" use Lim's opinion in their appeal should the case reach the Supreme Court.

He added: "At sana po, baka sakaling maging basehan rin ng desisyon ng Comelec en banc."

 

Second setback

This marks the second setback by Poe before the poll body.

On December 1, the Comelec Second Division voted in favor of the cancellation of Poe's COC based on the petition filed by lawyer Estrella Elamparo.

All three members of the Second Division—Commissioners Al Parreño, Arthur Lim and Sheriff Abas—voted in favor of Elamparo's petition.

Poe's camp has since appealed the Second Division's ruling before the Comelec en banc. — with Joseph Morong/LBG/RSJ/KBK/TJD, GMA News

 

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