Presidential candidate Grace Poe, her running mate Francis ‘Chiz’ Escudero, and veteran lawyer Lorna Kapunan (extreme left), acknowledge crowd after the tandem endorse Kapunan’s senatorial bid on Friday (Oct. 23) at the Balay Kalinaw in UP-Diliman, Quezon City. (MNS photo)
MANILA (Mabuhay) – Sen. Grace Poe, a presidential aspirant in the 2016 elections, will have to spend Christmas and greet the new year without a final Supreme Court ruling on a disqualification case filed against her by Rizalito David.
The court, sitting in a special en banc session, has decided to hold next month the oral arguments on the petition by David, a defeated senatorial candidate in 2013 who is seeking to reverse a Senate Electoral Tribunal ruling declaring Poe as a natural-born Filipino and thus qualified as a senator.
In a media briefing, SC spokesman Theodore Te said the oral arguments were set for January 19, 2016.
Meanwhile, the nine-member SET composed of senators and Supreme Court justices was given 15 days from receipt of notice to comment on David’s petition.
The high court had earlier been urged to rule with dispatch on cases regarding Poe’s qualification before the printing of ballots for the 2016 national and local elections. (MNS)