Poe has 5 days to answer MR on SET's disqualification case ruling

The Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) on Wednesday gave the camp of Sen. Grace Poe five days to comment on the motion for reconsideration filed by losing 2013 senatorial candidate Rizalito David.

A radio dzBB report said that since Monday, November 30, is a holiday, Poe's camp has until Tuesday to submit their comment on the opposition filed by David before the SET against its ruling, junking the disqualification case against the senator.

David, who is also running for president in 2016, on Monday asked the SET to reverse its ruling.

In a 66-page motion for reconsideration filed with the SET, David said the tribunal erred in its decision by concluding that Poe, a foundling, is a natural-born Filipino citizen based merely on a “presumption” under international law.

“The Tribunal gravely abused its discretion when it held that respondent enjoys the disputable presumption that she was born of Filipinos (parents),” David said in the petition.

David pointed out that what the United Nations (UN) declaration merely grants is a “presumption” that a person, with no known parents, was born by a citizen of the country where he or she was found.

“It bears reminding that when the Constitution says that a senator must be natural-born Filipino citizen, what it meant is, that the concerned is, without doubt, a jus sanguinis citizen or citizen at birth…that is, his or her biological father or biological mother is a citizen of the Philippines,” David said in his motion.

In a 5-4 vote, the SET last week dismissed David's disqualification case against Poe, which seeks to unseat her from the Senate on the ground that she is not a natural-born Filipino citizen.

Those voted against David's petition were Senators Vicente "Tito" Sotto III, Loren Legarda, Bam Aquino, Cynthia Villar and Pia Cayetano.

For the petition were Supreme Court (SC) Associate Justices Antonio Carpio, Teresita Leonardo-De Castro and Arturo Brion as well as opposition Senator Nancy Binay, daughter of Vice President Jejomar Binay.

Poe and Binay are also running for the presidency in next year's May elections. —ALG, GMA News