Of the highest urgency

AT THE start of February, one of the petitioners who asked the Commission on Elections to disqualify

Sen. Grace Poe’s candidacy for president called on the Supreme Court to hold daily hearings on the matter. Poe had elevated her case to the Court following the Comelec’s adverse ruling on it, and lawyer Estrella Elamparo, noting the tight window of three months before the May 9 elections, asked “that the oral arguments be set continuously on a daily basis, if possible, until completion … considering that time is of the essence and the importance of resolving this case soonest for the guidance of the electorate….”

READ: Escudero traces anti-Poe lawyer to Roxas camp

Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno said as much last December, when she was asked in an interview about the possibility of voters getting stuck in limbo, and the dire implications on the integrity of the presidential election if Poe’s disqualification case wasn’t decided on quickly enough. Sereno said the Court was aware of the urgency of the situation, and that it was prepared to “set aside” other pending matters to resolve the issue with dispatch. “…Most of the justices will be making themselves available for any eventuality … because this is the only process by which we can ensure that the right, just outcome will result,” she said.

So how many oral arguments on Poe’s case has the Court held in the last month? Four—or once a week.

To mounting calls that it speed up the hearings because the Comelec is about to print the official ballots, the Court has refused to comment. Pending any decision otherwise from it, Poe’s name will have to be on the ballots, which means that if she does get disqualified, the Comelec will have to redo them. Will it have enough time to do so? Observers expect the Court to hold a couple more hearings on the Poe case before it arrives at a consensus and promulgates its ruling, possibly next month. But Poe has the right to appeal a contrary ruling before it can become final and executory, so the case could drag on for several more weeks. By then the campaign would be approaching fever pitch but the electorate itself would be at sea—confused and uncertain about whether voting for Poe, the survey frontrunner, would eventually prove to be a waste.

As early as last November when the Senate Electoral Tribunal voted 5-4 to affirm that Poe is a natural-born Filipino, Inquirer columnist Joel Ruiz Butuyan argued that the case should go straight to the Supreme Court. “The filing of a motion for reconsideration should be dispensed with because it is no longer a ‘speedy and adequate remedy’ for the nation,” he wrote. He saw ominous consequences if the Court further tarried on the case: “If the issue of Senator Poe’s status is left unresolved by the Supreme Court during the campaign period, imagine the anxiety of the people who are inclined to vote for her. They may become tentative in their choice for fear that their votes would be wasted because of the still floating possibility that the Supreme Court would disqualify her from seeking the presidency. It is a very real fear, especially because all the Supreme Court justices who are members of the SET did not vote in her favor. The people inclined to vote for her in 2016 may be led to think that the unanimity among the SET member-justices is a preview of the position that prevails in the Supreme Court, which will have the final say on her status.”

The scenario could tip over into even more dangerous terrain if Poe garners the highest number of votes in the election but is subsequently declared ineligible to be president, wrote Butuyan. The millions of voters who cast their lot with Poe would be left seething, their participation in the process seemingly invalidated as well. And the president who would be “installed by default” would be haunted by questions of legitimacy throughout his or her term, leading to political instability and even more fractious governance.

Senate President Franklin Drilon put it another way in calling for the Court to hurry up: The longer it takes its sweet time to resolve the case, the more it poses “serious threats to fair and credible elections in May.”

Becoming a threat to the life and wellbeing of the republic, however unwittingly, is the last thing the Supreme Court would want to be. Poe’s disqualification case poses a uniquely urgent, game-changing set of circumstances, the resolution of which requires not only the highest and clearest stamp of legal authority, but also its effective promulgation at the earliest possible time. Anything less would be a disservice to the Filipino electorate.

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