Manila: The Philippines Supreme Court has temporarily restrained the poll panel from deleting Senator Grace Poe’s name from the list of candidates.
Attorney Theodore Te, Supreme Court spokesman, said Chief Justice Lourdes Sereno on Monday had issued a temporary restraining order on a December 23 decision by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to disqualify Poe from the presidential elections.
Poe’s lawyer, George Garcia, had approached the court over Poe’s disqualification. The court order also bars the poll body from removing her name from the ballot.
In a December 23 ruling, all seven members of the election panel said Poe cannot be a presidential candidate because she failed to meet the citizenship and the 10-years continued residency requirement for the position.
Oral arguments in the case are expected to resume on January 19, 2016, Te said.
Judicial process
“From the start, I put my full faith in the judicial process. The Comelec denied our people their choice in an open election but I am confident that the Supreme Court will uphold the truth and the spirit of the Constitution,” Poe said.
An adopted daughter of the late screen icon Fernando Poe Jr, the 46-year-old was elected Senator in 2013 after serving for three years as head of the film review and censors board.
She was appointed to the post by President Benigno Aquino.
She strongly supported Aquino throughout her incumbency and in the middle of the year, she had been offered by ruling Liberal Party presidential candidate to become his vice-presidential running mate in the May 2016 elections.
However, Poe declined the offer and in September announced that she is running for the presidency, which led to a political falling out with Aquino and the ruling Party.
