More Poe turbulence ahead

EDITORIAL
By: www.tribute.net.ph
The justices who had voted against the majority who upheld the presidential candidacy of Poe in the May elections warned of the severe consequences of the Supreme Court (SC) giving way to disregarding the constitutional requirements on a presidential aspirant.
The SC voted 9-6 last Tuesday to overturn the Commission on Elections (Comelec) decision disqualifying Poe from the presidential elections over misrepresentation in her certificate of candidacy (CoC) on the citizenship and residency to comply with the constitutional requirements.
The majority ruling said Poe is a natural-born Filipino citizen and has complied with the 10-year residency requirement in the Constitution, with the reckoning of her residency from May 24, 2005.
Those who voted against the majority were Senior Associate Justices Antonio Carpio, Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, Mariano del Castillo, Arturo Brion, Estela Perlas-Bernabe and Bienvenido Reyes.
Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno and eight other justices took Poe’s side. The senator was accused of lying about her citizenship and residency status. Apparently not all the nine justices voted in favor of Poe’s claim of being a natural-born Filipino.
Carpio, however, in his dissent said only seven justices were fully convinced that Poe is natural-born while adding that the ruling made a mockery of national elections by allowing Poe with “uncertain citizenship status” to become a candidate.
Those who had petitioned the Comelec to disqualify Poe, primarily former Sen. Francisco Tatad and others, will ask the High Court to review not only the ruling but the actual headcount of the justices regarding their decisions due to Carpio’s different computation.
With Carpio’s disclosure, the SC vote on Poe can still go either way with the review that will be sought in petitions this week.
Carpio said a revisiting of the ruling is needed since it would leave a huge scar on precedence in the justice system.
“This will make a mockery of our election process if petitioner wins the elections but is later disqualified by this court for not possessing a basic qualification for the Office of the President — that of being a natural-born Filipino citizen,” he said.
Another justice went further saying that those who voted in favor of Poe took it upon themselves to rewrite the provisions of the Constitution.
De Castro said the decision amended the 1935 Constitution, which was in effect when Poe was born in 1968, and added foundlings as natural-born citizens.
De Castro said the pro-Poe justices amended the Constitution “by judicial opinion.”
The justice warned of the danger in the ruling that favored Poe, adding that this would have “unimaginable grave and far-reaching dire consequences in our constitutional and legal system and national interest.”
De Castro said with the majority ruling “non-Filipinos may misuse a favorable ruling on foundlings to the detriment of national interest and security.”
“Our country must not only be defended and protected against outside invasion, it must also be secured and safeguarded from any internal threat against its sovereignty and security,” he said.
“I do not want to wake up someday and see my beloved country teeming with foreigners and aliens posing as natural-born Filipinos while the real natives are thrown into oblivion or relegated second or third class citizens who have become strangers in their own homeland,” he added.
The highly contestable decision on Poe came about after suspicions that Noynoy exerted extraordinary pressures on the SC Justices through Sereno to clear the way for a Poe run.
Noynoy is believed to be reallocating his chips to Poe from Roxas due to the poor showing of the Liberal Party candidate in the periodic pre-poll surveys which showed him struggling to rise from fourth place among the five presidential candidates.
The ruling in favor of Poe which is based on assumptions and extrapolations was proof of the supposedly majority justices being force fed to sign it.