SC justice hits Comelec for differing views on the Poe issue

A Supreme Court justice has scolded the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for submitting contradictory positions on the citizenship issue surrounding actor-turned-politician Fernando Poe Jr.

During Day 2 of oral arguments yesterday on three petitions seeking Poe’s disqualification on citizenship grounds, Justice Reynato Puno asked why the Comelec submitted two stands on the issue.

Three Comelec commissioners — Manuel Barcelona, Virgilio Garcillano and Florentino Tuason — each submitted separate comments dissenting from the majority ruling that cleared Poe to run.

They disagreed with the Comelec’s decision to throw out a disqualification petition filed by lawyer Victorino Fornier, who contends that Poe is not a natural-born Filipino because he was born to parents with foreign citizenships.

Puno asked Alioden Dalaig, chief of the Comelec’s legal division, why the poll body did not "speak in one voice."

He also wondered why the Office of the Solicitor General, which represents the government in court cases, did not share the Comelec’s majority ruling.

The Solicitor General usually defends previous Comelec decisions, Puno said.

"Is there now a new procedure? Did you allow them, who did not even take part of the review in the Comelec, to file separate comments?" Puno asked Dalaig. "This is a strange procedure followed by the commission."

Dalaig said he was representing the position of the majority.

Barcelona, Garcillano, Tuason and Solicitor General Alfredo Benipayo shared Fornier’s contention that Poe should have assumed the American citizenship of his mother because he was born out of wedlock.

Fornier said the prevailing law at the time stipulated that children born out of wedlock assume the citizenship of the mother.

However, the Comelec rejected his argument, ruling that Poe was a natural-born Filipino because his father was a Filipino citizen despite his Spanish heritage. The Constitution stipulates that the President be a natural-born Filipino citizen.

That prompted Fornier to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Poe’s coalition has sought the recall of Barcelona and Garcillano on speculation that the two might try to tip the balance against Poe.

Both were appointed to the commission by President Arroyo to replace Ralph Lantion and Luzviminda Tancangco whose terms expired early this month.

Five of the seven-member Comelec, including its chairman, Benjamin Abalos, are Arroyo appointees.

Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said Barcelona and Garcillano would be recalled if there was sufficient basis. He denied opposition charges that the Arroyo administration was trying to influence the Comelec on the Poe citizenship issue.

Poe’s Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP) also accuses the Palace of planning to cheat in the May polls.

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel, who is seeking re-election under the opposition KNP, accuses Garcillano of involvement in electoral fraud that sabotaged his bid for a Senate seat in the 1995 elections.