SC Justice Leonen tabbed as ponente in David's case vs. Poe

Supreme Court Associate Justice Marvic Leonen will draft the majority decision on Rizalito David's petition to disqualify Grace Poe from the Senate.

Sources told GMA News that Leonen will be the ponente for the decision on the petition for certiorari filed by David against the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET), which had earlier voted and affirmed that Poe was eligible for her position because she was a natural-born citizen.

Five senators voted for Poe in the SET, with three Supreme Court justices and Sen. Nancy Binay dissenting.

The three SC justices — Antonio Carpio, Arturo Brion, and Teresita De Castro — have recused themselves from the voting when the case was raised to the Supreme Court.

David is asking the SC to reverse the SET decision and order to immediately disqualify Poe.

In his petition, David said the SET erred in saying that Poe was natural-born "despite the absence of proof of blood ties to a Filipino father or mother."

David also questioned Poe's reacquisition of her  Philippine citizenship.

The senator is a foundling from Iloilo, adopted by celebrity couple Fernando Poe Jr. and Susan Roces. She migrated to the US but eventually returned to the Philippines and was elected senator in 2013.

The SET majority ruled that Poe validly reacquired her natural-born citizenship after she took her oath of allegiance to the Philippines in July 2006. They affirmed that decision last week.

"Clearly, the SET majority misinterpreted the Constitution, the laws, procedural rules, and jurisprudence in giving effect to non-binding international (laws) and in acknowledging the flawed theory of citizenship by legal fiction," David told reporters in a statement.

David also criticized the SET majority for allegedly voting based on "personal and or political considerations" in violation of the Lerias doctrine, in which judges were reminded to rule on cases as judges and not as politicians.

Poe's spokesperson, Valenzuela Mayor Rex Gatchalian had earlier expressed confidence that the high court will uphold the SET's decision.

"Clearly, on two occasions the members studied the merits of the position of Sen. Poe and deemed that she is a natural born Filipino. They saw wisdom in the legal arugments raised by Sen. Poe," he said.

Gatchalian also said that the SET's decision should not be labeled political because the tribunal's members who voted against David's petition have different political affiliations. —JST, GMA News