Senate President Franklin Drilon FILE PHOTO
Senate President Franklin Drilon on Thursday said the cases involving the citizenship of Sen. Grace Poe should be raised in the Supreme Court and decided immediately as the country’s future was at stake.
He suggested that the Supreme Court delay its Christmas break to resolve the cases.
The first of the cases, seeking Poe’s ouster from the Senate on the grounds that she was not a native-born Filipino, will go up to the Supreme Court next week after being thrown out by the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) for a second time on Thursday.
Four cases for Poe’s disqualification from next year’s presidential election on the grounds that she is not a natural-born Filipino and she does not meet the 10-year residency requirement for presidential candidates are pending resolution by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
The Comelec’s Second Division decided the first of the four cases on Tuesday, disqualifying Poe. The leader in the voter preference polls for the presidential race is contesting the decision in the full election commission.
Drilon said that in the end, the SET and Comelec cases would go to the Supreme Court.
“The high court should delay its vacation, its Christmas break, so this could be decided upon,” Drilon said, adding there was a possibility that chaos and protests would ensue after the Comelec prints the ballots in January without Poe’s name because the Supreme Court had not resolved the cases.
He said the Supreme Court decision should come “in time for the printing of the ballots.”