SC asked to reconsider Poe ruling

Three lawyers who earlier sought to disqualify presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr. insisted before the Supreme Court (SC) yesterday that the high tribunal was wrong in declaring him a natural-born Filipino and thus qualified to run for president.

In a 60-page motion for reconsideration, lawyers Ma. Jeanette Tecson, Felix Desiderio Jr. and Gertrudo de Leon said the SC erred in saying that only a simple proof of filiation was needed for an illegitimate child to acquire the status of a natural-born citizen.

They said the high tribunal should not have resorted to "curing (Poe’s) questionable status" by being too lenient on evidence.

"In this case, the court must require such stricter and more exacting proof from respondent Poe since what is at issue is not just mere Filipino citizenship, but the more stringently regarded status of being a natural-born Filipino citizen, of a candidate for the presidency," the three lawyers said in their motion.

The SC, in its March 3 ruling, said while the evidence may not establish conclusively that Poe is a natural-born citizen, the preponderance of evidence on hand is in his favor.

The three petitioners, however, said the burden of proof lies on the party claiming to be a Filipino citizen. They said what is needed is clear and convincing proof of citizenship, not mere preponderance of evidence.

Without his father’s acknowledgment at the time of birth, Poe should not be considered a natural-born Filipino, the petitioners said.

The lawyers also contended that it is not premature to question Poe’s eligibility before the SC prior to the May polls.

They said the SC erred in dismissing their petition for lack of jurisdiction. The high tribunal did not give credence to their argument that the SC has the exclusive and original jurisdiction over contests involving qualifications of candidates for president and vice president.

They added that the SC should have "definitely resolved" the question of Poe’s citizenship since it was of transcendental importance.

"The view of majority of members of the court that the substantive issues raised in the petitions can be heard again and decided with finality after the elections, if respondent Poe wins, only encourages future litigations and multiplicity of suits," the petitioners said.

Earlier, lawyer Victorino Fornier also sought a reversal of the SC ruling declaring Poe a natural-born Filipino citizen qualified to run for president.

Fornier, through his brother and counsel Andresito Fornier, maintained in a motion for reconsideration filed with the SC that Poe committed material misrepresentation in filing his certificate of candidacy before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) by saying he was a natural-born Filipino.

Fornier alleged that Poe is an illegitimate child who should follow the citizenship of his mother, American Bessie Kelley.

"The majority of the (SC) erred when it ruled that the 1935 Constitution did not distinguish legitimate and illegitimate children for purposes of determining citizenship," Fornier said, adding that the SC itself clarified in its previous rulings that only legitimate children could acquire the citizenship of their Filipino fathers.

This argument was also taken up by Tecson, Desiderio and De Leon.

Fornier said Poe miserably failed to present any proof to establish filiation to his father, Allan Fernando Poe.

Fornier elevated the disqualification case to the SC after the Comelec junked his petition against Poe. Other petitions were filed by Tecson, Desiderio, De Leon and Zoilo Antonio Velez, who all maintained that the SC, not the poll body, has jurisdiction over the case.

But the SC, in its March 3 decision, emphasized that the "1935 Constitution, during which (Poe) has seen first light, confers citizenship to all persons whose fathers are Filipino citizens, regardless of whether such children are legitimate or illegitimate."

Most of the SC justices said since Poe’s grandfather Lorenzo Pou benefited from the en mass Filipinization that the Philippine Bill effected in 1902, his Filipino citizenship will extend to his son.