Comelec en banc cancels Grace Poe's COC for president

Grace Poe's lawyer personally receives copy of Comelec en banc resolution at office of the clerk of the commission. pic.twitter.com/UdbxiFtK8s

— R-A. Dioquino (@AicaDioquino) December 23, 2015

The Commission on Elections en banc has junked both of Senator Grace Poe's appeals of the separate rulings of the Comelec's first and second divisions canceling her certificate of candidacy for president.

Poe's lawyer Attorney George Garcia personally received the copy of the en banc resolutions at the Office of the Clerk of the Commission.

According to Garcia, the en banc voted 5-2 to uphold the first division's decision disqualifying Poe from the presidential elections based on questions of citizenship and residency raised by petitiioners Francisco Tatad, Antonio Contreras and Amado Valdez.

Garcia said the en banc voted 5-1-1 to uphold the decision of the second division on Attorney Estrella Elamparo's petition to cancel Poe's COC because she was found to lack the required 10-year residency.

The election lawyer said the Poe camp is accpeting the en banc's decision but is saddened at the timing of its release "given that it's almost Christmas."

In a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, Comelec chair Andres Bautista confirmed the numbers and presented a breakdown of the votes per issue that needed to be addressed in the cases.

The en banc all voted 6-0 (Second Division) and 7-0 (First Division) to say that the Comelec had jurisdiction on the cases, and that Poe is not a natural-born Filipino citizen.

The body voted 5-1 (Second Division) and 5-2 (First Division) to say that Poe does not meet the 10-year residency requirement.

The en banc said Poe had deliberate intent to mislead about her period of residency and her citizenship, with both votes on the matters coming in at 4-2.

Bautista was a dissenting vote on both items, saying he does not believe that there was a deliberate intent on Poe's camp to mislead. Commissioner Al Parreno also dissented about the deliberate attempt to mislead about Poe's natural-born status.

Comelec chair Andres Bautista said he dissented in both MRs because he thought there was no deliberate intent to mislead.

— R-A. Dioquino (@AicaDioquino) December 23, 2015

For residency, Bautista was joined by Commissioner Luie Tito Guia. —NB/KBK, GMA News