Limkaichong-Paras oral arguments at Supreme Court

I picked up the following news story, in the Inquirer website, of the legal battle between Rep. Joselyn Limkaichong and the wife of ex-Rep. Jing Paras.
The news is that the case will be set for oreal arguments on August 12, 2008 before the Supreme Court. Here is the Inquirer story:

Status of Negros Oriental solon to be argued before SC

By Tetch Torres
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 19:53:00 07/29/2008

MANILA, Philippines -- The Supreme Court has granted Negros Oriental Representative Jocelyn S. Limkaichong’s request for an oral argument of the case she filed on the conflicting Commission on Elections (Comelec) decisions on her status as an elective official.
The high court en banc set the oral argument for August 12 after Limkaichong, through her lawyer, Pete Quirino-Quadra, said it was necessary to clarify issues involving questions on jurisdiction and constitutionality.

“We respectfully pray that the...cases be set for oral argument on the...jurisdictional and constitutional questions that we have raised,” Limkaichong said.
Limkaichong, who ran and won under the administration Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats, won by 7,746 votes over her rival Olivia Paras, and less than 40,000 votes over former representative Jerome Paras, in the May 14, 2007 elections.
The four cases filed over Limkaichong’s elective status -- the one she filed and those filed by Louis C. Biraogo, Renald Villando and Olivia Paras -- have been consolidated.
Limkaichong refuted the arguments of her rivals that the June 29, 2007 Comelec en banc resolution affirming the May 17, 2007 resolution of the poll body’s second division disqualifying her is final and executory because of her failure to file a petition for certiorari within five days from the promulgation of the en banc resolution.
She said she received the June 29 en banc resolution on July 3 and filed a petition for certiorari before the high court on August 1, within the reglamentary period of 30 days.
Limkaichong also urged the Supreme Court justices to resolve the conflicting decisions of the Comelec involving her candidacy and proclamation.
She was referring to the May 17, 2007 resolution of the Comelec second division and the evenly divided June 29, 2007 Comelec en banc resolution affirming the second division resolution disqualifying her from running for a seat in the House.
A day after the May 17 resolution was issued, the Comelec en banc promulgated Resolution No. 8062, ordering a “suspension of proclamation of winning candidates with pending disqualification cases...without prejudice to the continuation of the hearing and resolution of the involved cases.”
“These conflicting rulings of the Comelec on Limkaichong’s proclamation and the disqualification cases need to be clarified by our Honorable Justices during the oral argument. These vital issues must be resolved by the Court, in the interest of substantial justice,” the solon’s petition said.