SC urged to rule on SET case vs Grace Poe

Radio commentator Rizalito David on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to push through with the oral arguments in his petition questioning the Senate Electoral Tribunal’s (SET) decision declaring Senator Grace Poe a natural-born Filipino qualified to run for a Senate seat in the 2013 polls.

In his motion, David, through counsel, Atty. Manuelito R. Luna, said eight months have passed since the Jan. 19 oral argument was deferred.

“Time is now ripe to set them anew, unless, of course, the Honorable Court in the exercise of sound discretion decides to resolve the petition within the bounds of reasonable dispatch,” the motion stated.

“Fairness demands that the parties be heard in oral arguments or the issue/s resolved within a reasonable time for ‘justice delayed is justice denied’,” David added.

In December last year, the high court had set David’s petition for oral argument on January 19 but it was indefinitely deferred “until further notice from the court.”

READ: David not giving up on case vs Poe

David went to the Supreme Court after the SET dismissed his motion for reconsideration that sought a reversal of its Nov. 17, 2015 decision declaring Poe a natural-born Filipino on the basis of the presumption of descent from a Filipino parent, derived not only from the Rules of Court but also from international law.

David had argued that Poe cannot be declared a natural-born Filipino citizen just because the 1935 Constitution was silent on the citizenship of children with unknown parents. CDG/rga

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