Sereno, Carpio cross swords on Poe DQ voting results

 

Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno and Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio crossed swords on whether the majority of the 15-man Supreme Court (SC) view Sen. Grace Poe as a natural-born Filipino.

The 47-year-old Poe, whose citizenship status was questioned before the Commission on Elections and the Senate Electoral Tribunal, was recently cleared by the high tribunal to continue with her presidential bid in the May elections.

[Click here to read full text of the Supreme Court decision]

Sereno is one of the nine justices who ruled that Poe, a foundling, is qualified to seek the presidency while Carpio led the group of six justices who believe the senator failed to meet the citizenship and residency requirements set by the 1987 Constitution for presidential hopefuls.

In his dissenting opinion, Carpio said seven justices deemed Poe a natural-born citizen while five justices believed otherwise.

Three magistrates had no opinion on the matter.

"What is clear and undeniable is that there is no majority of this Court that holds that petitioner Mary Grace Natividad S. Poe Llamanzares is a natural-born Filipino citizen," Carpio said.

Sereno, however, blasted Carpio's argument by going by the book.

Citing Rule 12, Section 1 of the Internal Rules of the SC, Sereno said all decisions and actions in court en banc cases "shall be made up upon the concurrence of the majority of the Members of the Court who actually took part in the deliberation on the issues or issues  involved and voted on them."

Applying this rule, the chief justice concluded that a "clear majority of seven" voted in Poe's favor on the citizenship issue since only 12 justices took part in making the decision.

As to residency, seven out of 13 justices voted that Poe complied with the 10-year residency requirement, according to Sereno.

"These votes, as explained in the extended opinions submitted by the members of the majority, must be respected. Granting therefore that we need to address the question of substantive qualifications of petitioner (Poe), she clearly possesses the qualifications for presidency on the matter of residency and citizenship," she said.

Without mentioning Carpio, Sereno said the senior magistrate's statements  try to cast "uncertainty on an already tense situation."

"The dissent gives excessive weight to the fact that there are five justices in the minority who believe that petitioner does not have the qualifications for presidency, while ignoring the reality that there at least seven justices who believe that petitioner possesses these qualifications," she said.

Carpio's vote against Poe's candidacy wasn't a surprise at all, having joined two other justices, Arturo Brion and Teresita Leonardo De Castro, in the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) to disqualify Poe as senator for failing to prove that she is a natural born.

But Carpio, Brion and De Castro were defeated by majority of the senators who comprise the nine-man SET.

Sereno, on other hand, had already shown indications she was for Poe when the case was still being heard.

During oral arguments on February 6, Sereno warned of dire implications for the country's foundlings if the SC comes up with a ruling that will strip them of their rights as Filipino citizens.

The chief justice said that a foundling may not be elected, obtain professional licenses, enjoy scholarships, health and social services, own private land, among other benefits that a natural-born Filipino could get.

"Why can't the court let things be the way they are? Not deprive foundlings of their rights. Because the moment that the court says that foundlings are not either citizens, not natural-born citizens or are stateless, this will be a degradation of rights that they are already enjoying right now," Sereno said. 

Poe took the case to the SC after the Commission on Elections canceled her certificate of candidacy for president because of alleged material misrepresentations regarding her citizenship and residency.  — APG, GMA News