Everyday we encounter woes in life. Some come from trivial matters but others are so vital, an arbiter is most needed. For the Philippines, this coming Election 2016 will be a battle of legal jurisprudence. This is mainly caused by the legal woes the Presidential Candidate, Senator Grace Poe is facing. She is the consistent front runner in the Presidential polls. Before she teamed up with Senator Chiz Escudero as her Vice-Presidential partner, she was wooed by the Liberal Party to be the Vice-Presidential mate of Presidentiable Mar Roxas.
When Senator Grace refused the offer, her legal woes began. Many news items have arisen and many painful remarks have been said. COMELEC took charge of the preliminaries and sadly, from Second then First Divisions of COMELEC, Senator Grace lost; then COMELEC en banc came in and again, Senator Grace lost. Her last hope is the Supreme Court. It should not be forgotten why there is dissatisfaction over COMELEC’s decisions: the future of the foundlings is on the line in the sense that to be a foundling and then later become a leader and further on in life decide to run as President, the foundling found in Jaro Iloilo Church is not a Filipino and cannot run as President!
So when it comes to Question of Law, the Supreme Court is Supreme. Today, December 29, 2015, a Tentative Restraining Order (TRO) has been issued against COMELEC – not to execute their decisions. On the part of the Poe Camp, they have the following days to submit to the Highest Court their defense why Senator Grace Poe is a natural-born Filipino citizen and that she has residency requirement to run as President of the Philippines.
With the two camps exactly at odds, the Supremacy of the Supreme Court will reign. How Supreme is the Supreme Court? Supreme indeed – at least while we are still here on earth with man -made laws.
