Forniers face falsification raps

The tables have been turned on two lawyers who are pushing for the disqualification of opposition presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr.

Brothers Victorino and Andresito Fornier were charged with falsification of public documents and the use of falsified documents before the Manila Prosecutor’s Office yesterday afternoon.

The charges were filed by human rights lawyer Oliver Lozano, who alleged that in using the falsified documents in filing for the disqualification case against Poe, the Forniers violated Article 172 of the Revised Penal Code.

Lozano anchored the charges on the findings of the Senate that National Archives director Ricardo Manapat fabricated Poe’s birth certificate and his parents’ marriage contract.

The respondents were either in conspiracy with Manapat or just recklessly imprudent in relying on the falsified documents, Lozano said.

He noted that even after the falsity of the documents had been established, the Fornier brothers still continued to use them in filing for a motion for reconsideration before the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

The poll body earlier dismissed for lack of merit the petition of the Fornier brothers to drop Poe from the presidential race on account of his not being a natural-born Filipino.

The brothers elevated the issue of Poe’s citizenship to the Supreme Court by filing petition for certiorari and temporary restraining order (TRO) on the Comelec ruling that allowed Poe to run in the presidential race on May 10, 2004.

The SC has yet to decide on the issue.