Comelec files 2nd comment on Poe DQ case before SC

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday asked the Supreme Court to dismiss a second petition from Sen. Grace Poe challenging the poll body's ruling that granted a disqualification case against her by lawyer Estrella Elamparo.

Lawyers of the Comelec who filed the comment refused to give full copies of the petition to the media, saying copies could be secured from the Comelec main office in Intramuros.

All seven members of the Comelec en banc have signed the second comment, spokesman James Jimenez told media earlier on Monday.

Above his signature, Comelec chairman Andres Bautista wrote a note: "Subject to the concurring and dissenting opinion dated 12/23/15." Commissioner Luie Tito Guia also wrote "subject to my separate opinion," while Commissioner Robert Lim indicated he inhibited from the proceedings.

Meanhile, Commissioner Arthur Lim signed the comment as acting counsel for the Comelec.

In its 50-page comment, the Comelec said: "In order to succeed, the petitioner [Poe] has to manifestly show before the Honorable Court that the Comelec committed grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction when it promulgated its 23 December 2015 resolution."

The Comelec said it promulgated its resolution "in a justiceable case and sets forth therein clearly and distinctly the facts and constitutional provisions, law and applicable jurisprudence on which it is bases. In that sense, it speaks for itself."

The Comelec said disqualifying Poe in the 2016 polls was not an easy task. "The Comelec will not shirk from its bounden duty and constitutional mandate to conduct clean, orderly, honest and credible elections," it said.

"An essential ingredient of orderly and credible elections is for Comelec to ensure the candidates for public office comply with eligibility requirements mandated by the Constitution, without fear or favor," it added.

The Comelec insisted it is not legally bound to take judicial notice of and apply the November 2015 decision of the Senate Electoral Tribunal declaring Poe a natural-born Filipino.

The poll body reiterated that foundlings are not among those enumerated as Filipino citizens under the 1935 Philippine COnstitution. It said provisions of international law that Poe's camp cited cannot legitimize her claim that she is natural-born.

"Petitioner's statement in her subject COC as to her citizenship and presidency is in and by itself a deliberate attempt to mislead the electorate or hide from them her ineligibility for the Office of the President of the Philippines," read the comment.

On the issue of Poe's residency requirements, the Comelec maintained that her residence in the Philippines was re-established only on July 18, 2006 when she re-acquired her Filipino citizenship.

The Comelec cited Poe's admission against interest when she declared in her COC for her senatorial bid in 2013 that she has been a Philippine resident since November 2006. The poll body added that it considered other pieces of evidence, other than Poe's 2013 COC for senator, in coming out with the assailed resolution.

"There is substantial evidence on record pointing to petitioner's deliberate and false material representation in her COC as to her citizenship and residency," the Comelec said.

Last week, the Comelec filed its first comment on Poe's other petition challenging the poll body en banc's upholding of the separate petition filed by Sen. Francisco Tatad, former University of the East law dean Amado Valdez, and political analyst Antonio Contreras.

But that comment became controversial after it turned out it was filed by Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon without the signature of chairman Andres Bautista.

Fending for itself

The Comelec was earlier left to fend for itself and look for its own lawyer after the Office of the Solicitor General declined to represent the poll body before the Supreme Court because it was already defending the Senate Electoral Tribunal on a Poe-related case.

In the December 23, 2015 ruling that Poe is contesting before the SC, the Comelec en banc junked Poe's petitions against the separate rulings of the First and Second Divisions canceling her COC for president.

The en banc voted 5-1-1 upholding the decision of the Second Division on Elamparo's petition to cancel Poe's COC because of her failure to meet the constitutional requirement of a 10-year residency for presidential candidates.

The Comelec en banc, meanwhile, voted 5-2 to uphold the First Division's decision disqualifying her from the 2016 presidential election based on questions of citizenship and residency raised by former Senator Francisco Tatad, political analyst Antonio Contreras and former law dean Amado Valdez.

A week after Poe formally contested the Comelec en banc ruling before the SC, the high tribunal issued the TRO against her disqualification.

The Comelec, Tatad, Contreras, and Valdez have all filed their respective comments on Poe's petition, all of them also seeking the plea's dismissal. —JST/KBK, GMA News