Grace wins SET case; next hurdle presidential DQ

MANILA, Philippines - With a vote of 5-4, the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) junked yesterday the petition to disqualify Sen. Grace Poe in the 2013 senatorial race over her citizenship.

The SET, composed of six senators and three Supreme Court (SC) justices, upheld that Poe, a foundling, is a natural-born Filipino and eligible to keep her Senate seat.

Except for Sen. Nancy Binay, five other senator-members of the SET voted to dismiss the petition filed by losing senatorial candidate Rizalito David in the 2013 midterm polls.

They were Sens. Paolo Benigno Aquino IV, Pia Cayetano, Loren Legarda, Vicente Sotto III and Cynthia Villar.

SET chairman and Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and Associate Justices Teresita Leonardo-de Castro and Arturo Brion voted to disqualify Poe, along with Binay.

In upholding David’s petition, the SC justices said Poe is not a natural-born Filipino.

They believed that as a foundling, Poe needed to establish the Filipino citizenship of either of her biological parents to be able to establish that she is a natural-born Filipino as required by the Constitution. 

Since Poe has not yet found her real parents after conducting DNA tests on probable relatives, the SC justices said she remains to be a naturalized Filipino.

Victory for foundlings 

Poe lauded the SET decision, saying it is a victory for all foundlings in the Philippines.

She said it’s a good start for her amid the pending disqualification cases filed against her before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to stop her from seeking the presidency in 2016.

She remains hopeful that the other disqualification cases against her will be dismissed.

Poe thanked her colleagues for recognizing the votes of the Filipino people who voted her into office in 2013.

Poe refused to comment on Senator Binay, whose father, Vice President Jejomar Binay, is running against her in the 2016 elections.

For her part, Binay she said she sided with the three SC justices based on the Constitution and the evidence presented.

She said her decision favoring David’s petition had nothing to do with politics.

David to run to SC

David said he would question the SET ruling before the high tribunal.

“I will file a petition for certiorari before the SC next week,” he said.

David said the camp of Poe should not rejoice yet since three SC justices ruled in favor of his petition.

“The decision of the five senators smacked of political accommodation,” he said.

Poe’s lawyer George Garcia welcomed David’s decision to seek SC relief, saying the high court would be in a better position to interpret the provisions of the Constitution.

Poe’s allies in the House of Representatives were happy over the SET ruling.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. congratulated Poe for hurdling the disqualification case filed against her before the SET. – With Edu Punay, Paolo Romero, Helen Flores, Sheila Crisostomo, Robertzon Ramirez