SC rules: Gregory Ong is Filipino

MANILA, Philippines—The Supreme Court ruled that Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Gregory Ong is a Filipino citizen.

In a six-page resolution, the high court en banc considered the question on Ong’s citizenship as “closed and terminated.”

Former Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa-ignacio questioned Ong’s citizenship, citing his Chinese ancestry. This prompted then president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in May 2007 to withdraw Ong’s appointment to the Supreme Court.

But the high court pointed to its previous ruling and the finality of the decision by a lower court in 2007 that recognized Ong as a natural born citizen of the Philippines.

Ong, who joined the Sandiganbayan in October 1998, is currently one of the most senior justices of the special anti-graft court.

In July 2007 the lower court ruled that Ong is a Filipino.