Petition seeking to cancel Grace Poe's COC filed

(Updated 9:01 p.m.) Another petition has been filed with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) against Sen. Grace Poe, this time seeking the cancellation of her certificate of candidacy for president.

The petition was filed by political science professor Antonio Contreras on Tuesday afternoon.

According to Contreras, Poe fails to meet the 10-year residency requirement for president, saying if she reacquired her citizenship in July 2006, she would be two months short of this.

Prior to this, two other petitions have been filed against Poe's candidacy, who filed her COC last Thursday.

Contreras said he filed a petition on the grounds of residency because there is stronger jurisprudence on the matter. He also refrained from commenting on the other cases filed against Poe, which questioned her qualification in terms of citizenship.

"I respect the people who filed a petition on that basis. I'm not saying that it's weak; ang sinasabi ko lang, kung ako ay lalaban, gusto kong lumaban nang medyo malakas na jurisprudence sa likuran ko kasi hindi ako abugado," he said.

He added: "Wala pa kasing malinaw na jurisprudence sa citizenship ng isang foundling, pero maganda rin [na] 'yun [ay] pag-usapan."

Cancellation rather than disqualification

Contreras said he filed a petition to cancel Poe's COC because it hasn't been proven that she violated the law.

"May mga jurisprudence na na kung manalo siya at madesisyunan na kulang pala sa residency, parang na-cancel 'yung COC niya, parang hindi siya kandidato, so ang papalit sa kaniya 'yung number two [sa eleksyon], hindi law of succession," he pointed out.

He added: "Kung nangunguna nga siya (Poe) sa survey, tapos biglang siya pala ay disqualified, at palagay nang 40 porsiyento ang bumoto sa kaniya, mawawalan ng saysay ang boto ng 40 percent na bumoto sa kaniya... That's a significant percentage, that's a lot."

He said he initially didn't plan to file another petition against Poe, but was driven by statements made by the senator's camp on the matter.

"Nu'ng narinig ko 'yung sabi ng mga kampo niya that the people who are doing this are sinister, they are evil plots and paid by politicians, I realized na it's about time that we tell these people that there are ordinary citizens like me... Hindi namin kailangang magkaroon ng sponsor, at hindi kami sinister. So ang kinakatawan ko dito ay ang mamamayan na gusto lang malaman kung ano ang totoo," Contreras said.

Asked if he had a backer, the professor replied, "Wala... Sa totoo lang ako ang gumagastos ng sarili kong pera dito," referring to the P10,100 filing fee.

Mockery of electoral process

Meanwhile, Poe's camp slammed the filing of disqualification cases against her as a “mockery” of the electoral process.

Valenzuela City Mayor Rex Gatchalian, Poe’s spokesperson, said the increasing number of disqualification cases lodged against her seems aimed at making voters assume she cannot run for president.

“It is our observation that these series of petitions are aimed sowing confusion. It’s turning the electoral process into a mockery because why can’t they (petitioners) wait for the initial one to be decided on?” he said in a text message.

While Gatchalian maintained Poe’s readiness to answer all the disqualification cases filed against her, he said it is clear that the petitioners in these suits “do not respect our electoral process.”

“[T]he barrage of petitions being filed is already turning the electoral process into a circus,” he said.

Poe, a foundling, had admitted to previously acquiring an American passport, but said she renounced it before she was appointed chairperson of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) in 2010.

For his part, Pasig City Rep. Roman Romulo urged the parties questioning Poe’s citizenship to “stick to the facts” in arguing their cases. He stopped short of saying they were politically motivated.

“Sa tingin ko without the hard facts, mahirap sabihin pulitika na agad [ang dahilan]. Mahalagang napapag-usapan ito basta we stick to the facts,” he told reporters in a press conference.

Although Romulo admitted that former senator Francisco Tatad, who filed a disqualification case against Poe before the Comelec, is related to his wife Shalani Soledad, he said he believes the senator is a natural born Filipino citizen based on the 1935 Constitution.

Transcript

Citing a transcript of the 1935 Constitution deliberations, Romulo said the late President Manuel Roxas, grandfather of administration standard bearer Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, believed children born in the Philippines but whose parents were unknown should be considered natural-born Filipinos.

“Pag tiningnan mo ang 1935 Constitution, aminado naman ako na ang express provisions di naman talaga nakasulat doon, pero sa deliberations maliwanag at ito ang guidance na pwede nating tingnan. Ang sabi noong deliberations, pag ikaw ay born of unknown mother and father, you are a citizen of the country where you were born,” he said.

During the 1935 Constitutional Convention, President Roxas was asked if the draft Charter should be amended to include a provision on Philippine citizenship for children with unknown parents.

In response, the then-President said he believes such cases “are very small and limited” for the Constitution to address.

“By international law, the principle that children or people born in a country of unknown parents are citizens of that country is recognized, and it is not necessary to include a binding provision on the subject,” he said.

Ruperto Montinola, another delegate to the 1935 Constitutional Convention, said the same presumption was observed in Spain.

“The Spanish Code considers as Spaniards all children of unknown parentage born in Spanish territory because the presumption is that the child of unknown parents is the son of a Spaniard, and that may apply in the Philippines that an unknown son, born here in the Philippines, is considered a Filipino…” Montinola said.

Election lawyer Romulo Macalintal earlier argued that Poe, born when the 1935 Constitution was still in place, already inherited the citizenship of her adoptive father, the late actor Fernando Poe, Jr.

Poe was found abandoned as an infant at the Jaro Cathedral in Iloilo almost 50 years ago. She was adopted by the late actor and his wife, actress Susan Roces.  —KBK, GMA News