Tatad appeals Poe ruling anew

MANILA, Philippines - Former senator Francisco Tatad yesterday insisted on filing a second appeal of a Supreme Court (SC) ruling allowing Sen. Grace Poe to run in the May elections.

In a 34-page second motion for reconsideration, Tatad asked the high court to reverse its ruling on the case despite its pronouncement that the decision was final and no more appeals would be accepted.

He invoked the rules of court, which he said allow the filing of a second appeal – especially on cases where issues have not been resolved and the margin of votes is slim.

Tatad said the SC needed to explain and justify its final decision beyond just issuing a one-page resolution that there was no new argument raised to warrant the reversal of the March 8 decision.

He said the ruling “lacks doctrinal value” as “no majority opined that the petitioner is a natural born-Filipino citizen and has met the residency requirement.”

Through lawyer Manuelito Luna, Tatad reiterated that Poe should not be allowed to run for lack of citizenship and residency eligibilities as required under the Constitution.

Echoing the dissenting opinion of Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, Luna said that since all 15 members of the high court took part in the deliberation and voted on the issue and less than a majority believed that Poe is a natural-born citizen, there is therefore no ruling on her citizenship.

Luna questioned the high court declaration that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has no jurisdiction on Poe’s disqualification case.

“If this is so, all the more that the SC cannot rule on the merits of the case,” he said

“The Court cannot rule on the merits, that is, decide the qualifications of a candidate because there is no Comelec decision to review the merits, the annulled decision of the Comelec being non-existent,” he added.

Luna said there is no constitutional or statutory provision that allows the high court to initially decide the qualifications of presidential and vice-presidential candidates before the elections.

Tatad is one of four petitioners in the disqualification cases filed against Poe before the Comelec. The three others are De La Salle University professor Antonio Contreras, former Government Service Insurance System counsel Estrella Elamparo and former University of the East law dean Amado Valdez.