Supreme Court affirms TRO on Grace Poe DQ cases

By MARK MERUEÑAS, GMA News

Published January 12, 2016 2:15pm
Updated January 12, 2016 5:08pm

The Supreme Court has affirmed its temporary restraining order against the cancellation of Senator Grace Poe's certificate of candidacy (COC) for president by the Commission on Elections.

The high court also consolidated two cases filed by the lawmaker over the matter.

At a press briefing in Manila, SC spokesman Theodore Te said the tribunal, sitting in full court, voted 12-3 to confirm the temporary restraining orders issued by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno on December 28 in Poe's two cases.

Poe's first petition challenged a Commission on Elections en banc decision that granted lawyer Estrella Elamparo's plea to have Poe's COC for the 2016 presidential polls cancelled. Poe's second petition challenged the Comelec's decision on a separate disqualification case filed by former Sen. Francisco Tatad, political analyst Antonio Contreras and former law dean Amado Valdez.

"The court en banc ordered the consolidation into this case [Elamparo case], being the lower numbered case, of GR No. 221698-700 (Tatad case)," the SC said.

Te said the SC also confirmed the setting of these two cases for oral argument on January 19 at 2 p.m.

Oral arguments

Meanwhile, the SC ruled to reset the oral arguments on a third case in connection to Poe's qualifications, from January 19 to another date to be announced.

"An advisory for oral arguments will be issued in due course. The advisory addresses limitation of issues, the order and duration of presentations by counsels, post-argument procedures and other related matters," said Te.

Despite the Supreme Court's decision on the TRO, Elamparo, meanwhile, remained confident that "ultimately, Senator Poe's petition will be denied."

"Considering that the law is very clearly in our favor, I remain very hopeful that ultimately Sen. Poe's petition will be denied. Looking forward to January 19," she said.

For his part, Poe's running mate, Sen. Chiz Escudero, said the court's affirmation of the TRO " confirms that Sen. Grace Poe remains a candidate for president and whose name stays on the official ballot, notwithstanding the orchestrated efforts to disqualify her."

"We hope that the high court will also uphold the laws and long established jurisprudence when it decides on the other petitions in connection with the candidacy of Sen. Grace," Escudero said in a statement.

The country's highest tribunal granted same-day TROs against the two rulings. This was after Sereno approved members-in-charge Associate Justices Mariano del Castillo and Marvic Leonen’s respective recommendations to issue separate TROs on the Comelec's rulings.

The TRO paved the way for Poe to remain on the ballot for the presidency until final resolution.

Tatad, who filed one of the Comelec cases against Poe, asked the SC on January 4 to lift the TRO. But his comment was apparently not enough for the high court. —JST, GMA News

Tags: supremecourt, gracepoe, commissiononelections, eleksyon2016