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.
PHOTO: AP
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.
But Guerra said the 14 justices could yet decide they lack jurisdiction to rule on the citizenship issue.
Under that scenario, they could send the case to a lower court or stand aside entirely, leaving in place two rulings by the election commission that stated Poe is eligible to run.
If the Supreme Court does take up the case, its decision may not come until early March, leaving voters and investors with no clear picture of the presidential line-up until at least a third of the way into the three-month campaign period.
The tension has already bubbled into isolated violence, and uncertainty over Poe's citizenship -- a prerequisite to run -- further undermined the fragile peso, which touched an all-time low of 56.35 against the dollar yesterday.
Police used truncheons and water cannon on Thursday to block rock-throwing Poe supporters from marching to the Supreme Court.
Poe's wife called for calm at a peaceful rally by about 3,000 people at a Manila park and his campaign team has been careful to avoid threatening riots.
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