Philippine Supreme Court (SC) moves to favor Grace Poe's Presidential Bid, as promulgated in a decision penned by Associate Justice Jose Perez on March 8, 2016. The SC en banc session on March 8 resulted in a 9-6 vote, which rules against PH's Commission on Elections' (COMELEC) resolve to bar Poe from running in the highest position of the land.
In a statement quoted by Philstar from the 47-page decision, it is implied that the SC saw grave abuse in COMELEC's move to disqualify Poe. It was said that the resolutions of COMELEC were "diseased with grave abuse of discretion from roots to fruit."
Among those who voted in favor of Poe was Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, who, according to Rappler, repeatedly insisted that if SC rules Poe as a foundling and not a natural-born citizen, then, thousands of foundlings in the country will be discriminated against.
Along with Sereno, who voted in favor of Poe, were Presbitero Velasco Jr, Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Jose Perez, Jose Mendoza, Marvic Leonen, Francis Jardeleza and Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa.
Those who voted against Poe's petition were Antonio Carpio, Teresita Leonardo-De Castro, Arturo Brion, Mariano del Castillo, Estela Perlas-Bernabe and Beinvenido Reyes.
During the oral arguments regarding Sen. Grace Poe's case, COMELEC stood by its position that it did the right thing in cancelling Poe's certificate of candicacy, as written in a report by CNN Philippines. COMELEC Commissioner Arthur Lim pointed out that the PH Constitution does not consider foundlings as natural-born citizens. Lim was also firm in COMELEC's stand that Poe was not able to provide evidence to prove that she was a natural-born Filipino.
The issue on whether Poe is a PH natural-born citizen or not became a great wall in the Senator's run for Presidency. Just last year, defeated senatorial candidate Rizalito David filed a petition to disqualify Poe from the senatorial polls citing that she is not a natural-born citizen. This petition was thrown out by the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) in a vote of 5-4 in favor of Poe.
Immediately following this, on December 1 of last year, the senator's Certificate of Candidacy (COC) was cancelled by the COMELEC. This forced Poe's hand for an appeal which was dismissed by the COMELEC en banc in an announcement made on December 23, 2015.
Grace Poe is an adopted child of PH celebrity spouses, Ronald Allan Kelley Poe, also known as Fernando Poe Jr (FPJ), and Jesusa Sonora Poe, popularly known as Susan Roces. FPJ also ran for Presidency during the 2004 PH Presidential Elections but was defeated and later died because of stroke.
