Philippine court studies Poe's eligibility

[dArKeR]

The Philippine Supreme Court yesterday began studying files on the eligibility of presidential frontrunner Fernando Poe to contest the May 10 election, and officials said a delay could lead to weeks of campaign confusion.

Movie star Poe, a political novice whose Philippine citizenship has been questioned, holds a commanding lead in opinion polls over President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and four others vying for the nation's highest office.

"Considering the urgency, and this is my personal opinion, maybe some time in the next two weeks," Gleo Guerra, senior chief staff officer at the Supreme Court, said on television yesterday in comments on the potential timing of a ruling.

The court asked for position papers to be submitted on Monday after it heard arguments on Thursday about Poe's birth out of wedlock in 1939 to an American mother and a father who was born during the US occupation of the Philippines early last century.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2004/02/21/2003099586