GMA Brandtalk
Tracking
Archives
SC: Poe qualified to hold office as senator
The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the decision of the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) declaring that Sen. Grace Poe was eligible to run in the 2013 election, ending doubts on whether she could seek public office as a foundling.
Voting 9-3, the SC found no grave abuse of discretion on the part of the SET when it ruled in November last year that Poe was a natural born citizen.
"Private respondent Mary Grace Poe-Llamanzares is a natural-born Filipino citizen qualified to hold office as Senator of the Republic," the decision stated.
In junking the petition of defeated senatorial bet Rizalito David, the Court relied on the presumption that all foundlings found in the Philippines are born to at least either a Filipino father or a Filipino mother and are thus, natural born, unless there is "substantial proof" otherwise.
A foundling's misfortune in failing to identify the parents who abandoned her cannot also be the foundation of a rule "that reduces them to statelessness or at, best, as inferior, second class citizens who are not entitled to as much benefits and protection from the state as those who know their parents," according to the SC.
Concluding that foundlings are not natural-born Filipino citizens, the SC said, is like telling them that they can never be of service to the country "in the highest possible capacities."
"These consequences cannot be countenanced by the Constitution, not least of all through the present politically-charged proceedings the direct objective of which is merely to exclude a singular politician from office."
The Court also disagreed with David's contention that the burden of proof had shifted to Poe upon a mere showing that she was foundling.
"His (David) emphasis on private respondent's (Poe) supposed burden to prove the circumstances of her birth places upon her an impossible condition. It borders on the absurd to require proof from private respondent when there is no dispute that the crux of the controversy--the identity of her biological parents-- is simply not known," the decision read.
Associate Justices Mariano Del Castillo, Bienvenido Reyes and Estela Perlas-Bernabe dissented from the ruling penned by Associate Justice Marvic Leonen.
Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and Associate Justices Teresita, Leonardo de Castro and Arturo Brion took no part in the case due to their membership in the SET and previous actions unfavorable to Poe.
Poe lauds SC ruling
In a statement, Poe welcomed the dismissal of the "baseless petition" aimed at removing her from the Senate.
"I laud the Court in affirming my status, and in effect all other foundlings in the country, as natural-born Filipinos, with full rights to serve the nation," the senator said.
She also hoped that "this will put the issue to rest, and that all foundlings be given due recognition each of us deserves.
The SC also found Poe a natural-born Filipino when it junked in March the decisions of the Commission on Elections disqualifying Poe from last May's presidential race.
Voting 9 to 6, the SC said the Comelec committed grave abuse of discretion when it barred Poe from running on the ground that she made false statements on her nationality and period of residence in the Philippines.
Penned by Associate Justice Jose Perez, the SC ruled that the poll body's resolutions against Poe's candidacy "are, one and all, deadly diseased with grave abuse of discretion from root to fruits."
The SC said Poe was a natural-born Filipino citizen and has complied with the 10-year residency requirement, having been an actual resident of the Philippines since she came back from the United States on May 24, 2005.
The decision was handed down on March 8 and was upheld on April 5.
Poe placed third in last May's presidential race behind former Interior secretary Manuel "Mar" Roxas II and eventual winner, then Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte. —ALG, GMA News
