SC sets argument for Negros solon's disqualification case

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court has granted Negros Oriental Rep. Jocelyn Limkaichong’s request for an oral argument on the case she filed against the decision of the Commission on Election (Comelec) disqualifying her from post on account that she is not a natural-born Filipino. In a minute resolution, the Court en banc scheduled on August 12, 2007 at 1:30 p.m. the hearing on Limkaichong's petition seeking a reversal of the Comelec's resolution that granted the two complaints for her disqualification in the May 14, 2007 elections. The Comelec on May 17, 2007, ruled that Limkaichong is not a natural-born Filipino since her father, Julio Ong Sy, failed to acquire Filipino citizenship. Limkaichong, in her petition before the high court, claimed that the poll body has no jurisdiction to hear the citizenship complaints as this power is vested with the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal, owing to her proclamation as winner on May 25, 2007. Limkaichong ran for the position of representative of the 1st district of Negros Oriental under the banner of the administration Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrat (Lakas-CMD) party. She won by a majority of 7,746 votes over her next rival, Olivia Paras, and less than 40,000 votes over the third placer, former Congressman Jerome Paras. Earlier, she filed a petition with the high court seeking the dismissal of two petitions assailing her citizenship and seeking her disqualification on the ground that she was born of Chinese parents. Limkaichong insisted that she is a natural-born Filipino citizen since at the time of her birth on November 9, 1959, her father was already a naturalized Filipino citizen. She noted that up to the present, the Office of the Solicitor General has not filed any petition to cancel the certificate of naturalization of her father. - GMANews.TV