
Senator Grace Poe (MNS photo) MANILA (Mabuhay) – With the conclusion of the oral arguments on Tuesday, the Supreme Court should resolve immediately Sen. Grace Poe’s plea challenging her disqualification from the May 2016 presidential elections. This was according to legal experts on Wednesday, who also said that should the high court uphold Poe’s disqualification by the Commission on Elections late in the campaign period, the votes she would be getting would be wasted. Election lawyers Edgardo Carlo Vistan II and Romulo Macalintal, and former Integrated Bar of the Philippines national president Vicente Joyas all agreed that the high tribunal should already decide on Poe’s two petitions. Vistan said in the event Poe’s disqualification is upheld by the SC but voters still end up voting for her in the May polls, those votes “cannot be credited to her as they would be considered stray votes.” Since January 19, the high tribunal conducted a total of five rounds of oral arguments on the Poe cases. “It is important that the Supreme Court resolve the disqualification cases against Sen. Grace Poe expeditiously,” said Vistan, adding that just because the Comelec had already started printing the 57 million ballots does not make the resolution of the Poe cases less urgent. “Even if the ballots would be printed already with Sen. Poe’s name as one of the presidential candidates, there is still an urgent need for a speedy resolution of the case so that the Comelec can make appropriate adjustments to the automated vote Read More …