No Comelec ruling yet on Poe’s motion on DQ case

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday failed to come up with a decision on the motion for reconsideration filed by Sen. Grace Poe on her disqualification and on Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s substitution as a presidential candidate.

Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon said a full session meeting is set today to discuss the cases. It would be the third meeting of the entire poll body on the issues.

“Very likely we will finish deliberating (today) but as to when we shall come out (with decisions), I really cannot say. But certainly we are deliberating again,” Guanzon, emerging from a meeting, told reporters.

Poe filed a motion for reconsideration on the Dec. 1 ruling of the Comelec Second Division granting the petition of lawyer Estrella Elamparo to disqualify her from the 2016 presidential elections.

Voting 2-1, the poll body’s First Division, acting on the consolidated petitions filed by former senator Francisco Tatad, De La Salle University professor Antonio Contreras and former University of the East College of Law dean Amado Valdez, also disqualified Poe on Dec. 11.

The petitioners said Poe failed to meet the constitutional requirements on citizenship and residency.

On Duterte’s presidential bid, Guanzon said they are looking into the validity of his being a substitute for Martin Diño of the Partido ng Demokratikong Pilipino-Laban party.

“Was the COC (certificate of candidacy) of Diño for president or for mayor? ... is it valid or is the COC of Mayor Duterte’s COC valid? These have not yet been decided,” she said.

Asked whether Poe and Duterte will be included in the provisional list of qualified candidates to be printed on the official ballots, Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista said the timeline of the Comelec for the release of the list of candidates has been moved from Dec. 15 to Dec. 23.

Bautista said the poll body would try to resolve Poe and Duterte’s cases before Dec. 23.

He said the names of Poe and Duterte would be included in the ballots, pending the final decisions on their cases.

Speed up

Meanwhile, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. urged the Comelec and the Supreme Court (SC) to speed up the resolution of the disqualification cases filed against Poe. – With Paolo Romero