Poe lawyer: SET ruling ‘extinguishes’ Comelec case vs Grace

By: Yuji Vincent Gonzales - 9 years ago

Presidential aspirant Senator Grace Poe. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The camp of Senator Grace Poe on Friday said the ruling of the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) junking the disqualification case against her over citizenship issues “extinguishes” the election offense case pending before the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

Poe’s lawyer George Garcia said their camp will seek the dismissal of the complaint filed by losing senatorial bet Rizalito David, who accused the presidential aspirant of material misrepresentation in the certificate of candidacy she filed in 2013.

“We strongly believe that the SET win means there is no misrepresentation in the COC she filed when she ran for the Senate in 2013,” Garcia said in a statement.

READ: SET denies disqualification case vs Grace Poe | Poe jumps for joy; SET scraps disqualification case

Garcia said they will file a motion on Dec. 1, officially informing the poll body of the SET decision.

David claimed that Poe was ineligible for public office because she was not a natural-born Filipino citizen. He said Poe violated section 74 of the Omnibus Election Code, which regards the COC as a sworn statement, and a violation of such can be considered an election offense.

In a 5-4 vote, the SET junked the disqualification suit against Poe, ruling that the lady senator is a natural-born Filipino citizen under the Constitution despite being a foundling.

Garcia said their camp is set to file on Dec. 3 their memorandum for three other disqualification cases against Poe, which were filed by former senator Francisco Tatad, political science professor Antonio Contreras, and former University of the East College of Law dean Amado Valdez. CDG