Manila Times/Manila

Senator Grace Poe could be jailed for committing a misrepresentation in her certificate of candidacy (COC), the lawyer for one of the petitioners who wanted her disqualified from joining next year’s elections said yesterday.
According to Manuel Luna, the counsel of former senator and Manila Times columnist Francisco Tatad, the Comelec Second Division’s recent decision to disqualify Poe was based on an election offence that carries a penalty of “one to six years of imprisonment, disqualification to hold public office and deprivation of the right of suffrage.”
“The president cannot even pardon (Poe) if found guilty without the concurrence of the Comelec,” Luna told reporters in a media forum in San Juan City (Metro Manila).
Tatad is one of the five petitioners who questioned Poe’s COC for president before the Comelec. All assailed Poe’s claim that she has satisfied the constitutional requirements on citizenship and residency.
The Second Division on Tuesday handed down its ruling on the petition of lawyer Estrella Elamparo who said all existing legal records negate Poe’s claim that she is a natural-born Filipino and that she has complied with the minimum 10-year residency requirement for one to be able to run for president.
Aside from Tatad and Elamparo, separate petitions were filed against the 47-year-old senator by radio commentator Rizalito David, former law dean Amado Valdez and political science professor Antonio Contreras.
David had also petitioned the Senate Electoral Tribunal to nullify Poe’s proclamation as among the winners in the 2013 senatorial elections on the same grounds. An appeal to reverse the tribunal’s 5-4 ruling dismissing the petition, is pending.
Luna said he is confident that the poll body will rule in favour of the other petitions, given the dissenting opinion of the three Supreme Court (SC) associate justices in the Senate Electoral Tribunal.
Regardless of a favourable or an unfavourable decision from the Comelec en banc, Poe’s name will remain on the official list of candidates and in the ballots unless a final disqualification verdict is handed down by the SC prior to the printing of ballots.
The Comelec spokesman, Director James Jimenez, also yesterday said it would be prudent and practical on the side of the poll body to include the senator’s name rather than exclude it, considering that the case will definitely reach the High Court, and nobody knows what the SC’s final verdict will be.
Elamparo also yesterday filed an “urgent petition to exclude” Poe from the official list of candidates and from the ballots.
Her petition to cancel the senator’s COC for president was granted by the Comelec Second Division in a resolution handed out on Tuesday.
Jimenez pointed out that the non-inclusion of Poe’s name in the ballot based on the Comelec en banc’s unfavourable decision would complicate things later, if the SC would rule the other way around.
“It’s easier to ignore the votes cast for that person than to take (him) out of the ballot then later on find out that (he) should have been in the ballot in the first place. So it’s practical to include (Poe’s) name,” he said.
But Luna disagreed, saying it would be a violation of the Omnibus Election Code and the Rules of Court.
He explained that Poe’s name should be excluded from the ballot once the commission en banc ruled against her, “unless she is able to secure a temporary restraining order from the Supreme Court.”
“The en banc should not be pre-empted. Comelec chairman (Andres) Bautista can better shed light on that… Until they issue a resolution to that effect, we cannot say that she will be included or excluded. That is why I’m reserving my opinion because I’m respecting the action of the en banc at a proper time,” Luna said.He added that the status quo remains simply because the decision of the Second Division is not yet final and executory while the First Division is yet to make a decision.
“We are pretty confident that the First Division will also side with us not because the Second Division has already ruled against her but because of the superiority of the arguments that we have presented,” Luna said.
In her urgent petition to exclude Poe, Elamparo pointed out that based on the timeline of the Comelec, it has to come up with the official list of presidential candidates on December 20, 2015, and printing of ballots will start by early January next year.
“While respondent may still opt to file a motion for reconsideration within five (5) days from receipt of the aforesaid resolution, petitioner respectfully submits that unless the December 1 resolution is reversed or restrained through a temporary restraining order issued by the Supreme Court, the same should be respected and implemented by excluding respondent from the list of official candidates for the presidency and from the ballots,” she said.
According to her, the Comelec would be contradicting itself if after cancelling respondent’s COC, it would still include Poe’s name in the official list of candidates and in the ballots, “as if it is anticipating its decision to be reversed.”
“More important, the exclusion of respondent from the official list of candidates and from the ballots would better serve the interest of justice,” she said.
Luna said foundlings are considered as naturalised citizens and not natural-born ones and therefore could not be elected as president.
Poe, who was found abandoned in a church in Iloilo, has no known biological parents.
“Foundlings cannot in any way be a president or senator, unless you amend the Constitution. That’s the only way you can change the situation, that you need to amend it.
The Constitution enunciated jus sanguinis or law of the blood. You cannot create a natural-born citizen by creating legal fiction or by mere presumption,” Luna said.
Tatad’s petition questioned Poe’s claim that she’s a natural-born citizen.“Poe cannot… (imply) or presume (that she is a) natural-born (citizen). It should be established as a fact, by blood relationships (because of the jus sanguinis principle),” he added.
In his petition, Tatad said “Poe is practically stateless, and that foundlings have no parentage,” because “the 1935 Constitution states that she is not a Filipino because of the jus sanguinis principle.”
“Poe’s arguments, which are based on the presumption that she is a natural-born citizen based in turn on international statutes for foundlings will not be applicable here in the Philippines,” Luna said.
“The Philippines is not a signatory to any international statute on foundlings, and our country doesn’t follow the jus soli (law of the land) principle — if she keeps on insisting that, it will contradict our 1935 and 1987 Constitutions emphasising jus sanguinis. It should be established as a fact, by blood relationships,” he added.