Question of jurisdiction

The two separate petitions filed by some lawyers directly with the Supreme Court seeking the disqualification of FPJ for not being a natural-born Filipino citizen also raise another important issue of jurisdiction. According to my compañeros y compañeras, only the Supreme Court has jurisdiction to decide on Poe’s qualification to run for President of the Philippines. They steadfastly insist that the poll body should not have taken cognizance of the disqualification petition earlier filed by Fornier because it has no jurisdiction over such matter.

There is really no provision in the Constitution or the Election Laws specifically empowering the Comelec to rule on the natural-born citizenship qualification of a presidential candidate. Such authority can only be implied. The Constitutional provisions from which Comelec’s power can be inferred are Section 2(1) Article IX-C, granting the poll body the power to enforce and administer all laws and regulations relative to elections, and Section 2(3) which empowers the Comelec to "decide all questions affecting elections" except those involving the right to vote which the courts should decide. In the Omnibus Election Code, this power to decide on the qualification of a presidential candidate can be inferred from Section 74 conferring on the Comelec the jurisdiction to deny due course or cancel a certificate of candidacy of any candidate (including a presidential candidate) exclusively on the ground of falsity of any material representation contained therein like that of being a natural born Filipino.

But the Constitutional provision relied upon by the lawyers in going directly to the Supreme Court to disqualify FPJ is not squarely and explicitly in point either. Said provision plainly and simply states that "the Supreme Court, sitting en banc shall be the sole judge of all contests relating to the election, returns and qualification of the President or Vice President"(Article VII Section 4 last paragraph). The key word here is contests. Technically it contemplates a case when a defeated candidate for president questions the right to said office of the one proclaimed elected thereto, the question being on the election, returns and qualifications of the latter. This is a new provision in the 1987 Charter constituting the entire SC sitting en banc as a Presidential Electoral Tribunal to decide the issue involving the qualification of the winner after not before the elections. In the previous charters, not all but only a number of justices of the SC sit as members of the Presidential Electoral tribunal. The SC here is not exercising its judicial power to entertain petitions for certiorari, prohibition, or mandamus, akin to the petitions filed the lawyers seeking to disqualify FPJ.

Most likely therefore, the said petitions filed directly with the SC will not be given due course since they are grounded on the wrong constitutional provision. The petition filed earlier before the Comelec is more procedurally correct. The Comelec is the only proper body where a full dress hearing on the qualification can be conducted and where all the facts can be sifted and the evidence evaluated. It is only after the Comelec has ruled on this petition could it be brought to the SC on certiorari. To be sure, Article IX-A Section 7 of the Constitution itself provides for this procedure. It mandates that each Constitutional Commission (Comelec,Civil Service[CSC] and Audit [COA]) shall decide by a majority vote of all its members any case or matter brought before it within 60 days from the filing of the last pleading, brief or memorandum. And any decision, ruling or order of each commission may be brought to the Supreme Court on certiorari by the aggrieved party within 30 days from receipt of a copy thereof. Thus, Rule 64 of the Rules of Court now provides for a review of these final orders or resolutions; by the SC in case of the Comelec and COA and by the Court of Appeals in case of CSC(RA 7902).

Apparently, the Comelec would even be violating the Constitution if it will not expressly rule on the issue of Poe’s Filipino citizenship from birth which has been directly brought before it. It should all the more rule with dispatch so that the Supreme Court can ultimately decide on this burning issue that has kept the nation on tenterhooks because of the atmosphere of uncertainty it has engendered.

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