MANILA, Philippines (3rd UPDATE) The Supreme Court (SC), the final arbiter on the disqualification case against

t Senator Grace
Poe, has spoken: she is a natural-born Filipino and has met the 10-year residency requirement for presidential candidates.
Three days after releasing the vote in its landmark decision, the High Court released on Friday evening, March 11, a 47-page
decision detailing why it allowed Poe to run for the presidency.
The decision, penned by Justice Jose Perez, said the Commission on Elections (Comelec) acted with grave abuse of discretion
when it cancelled Poe's certificate of candidacy (COC) for president because of issues on her citizenship and residency.
"There is more than sufficient evidence that petitioner has Filipino parents and is therefore a natural-born Filipino," the SC said in
its decision, insisting that the burden to prove otherwise is on her accusers.
"Her admission that she is a foundling did not shift the burden to her because such status did not exclude the possibility that her
parents were Filipinos, especially as in this case where there is a high possibility, if not certainty, that her parents are Filipinos,"
the court said.
The SC also cited the statistics mentioned by Solicitor General Florin Hilbay during the oral arguments, saying the numbers
which were not disputed by the Comelec point to a very high possibility that petitioner's parents were Filipinos: