A LOSING senatorial candidate in the 2013 elections has asked the Senate Electoral Tribunal to reconsider its decision dismissing the disqualification case he had filed against Senator Grace Poe.
Rizalito David appealed to the nine-member tribunal to overturn its decision last week dumping his petition seeking to declare Poe as ineligible for her Senate post for not being a natural-born Filipino.
He claimed that the five senators in the majority ruling—Vicente Sotto III, Loren Legarda, Pia Cayetano, Cynthia Villar and Bam Aquino—committed a grave abuse of discretion in dismissing his petition.
David made his appeal even as other petitioners on Monday expressed confidence that their respective cases against presidential aspirant Grace Poe would not be affected by the dismissal of David’s petition against Poe.
De La Salle University professor Antonio Contreras, former University of the East Law Dean Amado Valdez, and former Senator Francisco Tatad said in a separate interviews that the SET ruling would not affect their respective cases against Poe.
Valdez said his case against Poe was about her qualification to run as President and not for senator in 2013.
“It [the SET decision] should not [affect my case],” Valdez said.
“That refers only to her qualifications as a senator, particularly on the ground of residency.’’
David accused the senators of violating the rule on the primacy of the Constitution over international laws, saying their votes to dismiss his petition was a “political decision.”
“Petitioner scored the majority for violating the Constitution with its legally infirm decision as well as political votes case to accommodate Respondent Poe,” David’s lawyer Manuelito Luna told reporters.
“The five senator-judges failed to uphold judicial integrity in interpreting the Constitution and international laws.”
David asked the tribunal to adopt the dissenting opinions of the three Supreme Court justices in the tribunal.
Voting 5-4 on Nov. 17, the SET members declared Poe, the front runner in next year’s presidential race, as a natural-born citizen who was eligible to be elected senator.
The five senators ruled that Poe should be considered a natural-born Filipino despite being a foundling based on customary international laws.