Poe's lawyer tells David to 'move on'

MANILA, Philippines — The legal counsel of Sen. Grace Poe on Friday advised losing senatorial bet Rizalito David to "move on" and focus on finding proof that the senator is not a natural-born Filipino.

David earlier filed a disqualification case against Poe, a presidential aspirant, before the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET), which recently decided to junk the petition to unseat the senator.

"Mr. David kept on blaming the SET member-senators who voted in favor of Sen. Poe and calling their decision political. It is becoming more and more obvious that Mr. David has nothing to stand on—that all his allegations about this foundling not being a natural-born Filipino citizen are just part of a sinister plot that he and his cohorts concocted," Poe's legal counsel George Garcia said.

Garcia added that David has been ill-advised for disparaging the SET decision, stressing that it was a judgment based on prevailing jurisprudence.

The lawyer insisted that Poe is a natural-born Filipino citizen under the 1935 and 1986 Constitution.

According to Garcia, Poe was presumed a natural-born as she did not do anything to acquire her status.

"And since he appears to be obsessed with Sen. Poe’s foreign blood, then maybe he should start making more frequent trips abroad to embark on such a search," Garcia said.

Poe again topped the latest presidential preference survey conducted by Pulse Asia with 39 percent.

RELATED: Pulse: Grace 39%, Binay 24%, Mar 21%

Vice President Jejomar Binay of the United Nationalist Alliance ranked second with 24 percent while Liberal Party standard-bearer Mar Roxas ranked third with 21 percent.