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Tecson and Desiderio, Jr. vs. COMELEC, Fernando Poe Jr, et al. [SEPARATE OPINION, J. CALLEJO, SR. ]

RONALD ALLAN KELLY POE (a.k.a. FERNANDO POE, JR.) and VICTORINO X. FORNIER, respondents. [SEPARATE OPINION, J. CALLEJO, SR. ]

G.R. No. 161434 | 2004-03-03

SEPARATE OPINION

"A court which yields to the popular will
thereby licenses itself to practice despotism for
there can be no assurance that it will not on
another occasion indulge its own will."[1]

CALLEJO, SR., J.:

Before the Court are three petitions seeking to disqualify respondent Ronald Allan Kelley Poe as candidate for President of the Republic of the Philippines, on the ground of ineligibility as he is not a natural-born Filipino citizen, one of the qualifications for the said position under Section 2, Article VII of the 1987 Constitution.[2]

The petitions in G.R. No. 161434[3] and G.R. No. 161634[4] were filed directly with...