A division of the Commission on Elections has canceled the Certificate of Candidacy of Senator Grace Poe on grounds of her deficiency in the residency requirements of the Constitution.
It is a big blow to the political ambitions of Ms. Poe, and of the others who have cast their lot with her. While she said she would appeal the ruling before the Supreme Court, and while the commission en banc has yet to render its own judgment on the matter, what complicates matters for the senator is the looming deadline—December 10—when the printing of the ballots are supposed to start.
She has to get her name on that ballot, first and foremost.
Poe has been the frontrunner in poll surveys until recently. Even the administration party was wooing the adopted daughter of the late movie icon Fernando Poe Jr. No less than President Benigno Aquino III said she was one of the few who could continue the Daang Matuwid. Provided, of course, that she tread it as the running mate of the real administration bet, former Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas II.
When she said no, and repeatedly, they trained their sights on her for other reasons altogether.
In fact, many believe that Poe’s disqualification is the handiwork of the Roxas camp itself. Despite major developments in the presidential race, Roxas’ numbers have refused to improve, likely prompting his handlers to cook up something drastic and desperate on his foes instead.
Remember the relentless attacks on Vice President Jejomar Binay, who declared his presidential ambition way too soon? A protracted Senate investigation into his and his family’s dealings while they were in power in Makati City likely caused the drop in Binay’s ratings. That the issues were probed at all was not the problem, especially if the complaints were valid and supported by evidence. It was the timing that was sheer genius.
Now the next legal question to be addressed is the candidacy of the tough-talking, oversharing Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who has been substituted by his party, PDP-Laban, for another candidate who had dropped out of the race. Talk is rife that since the mayor has become popular in the past few months, he would be the next target for elimination such that only Binay and Roxas would be left for the actual battle. Who knows?
Filipinos themselves are no strangers to this process of elimination.
In a perfect world, people vote for the candidate who embodies their ideals and champions their issues. The options are taken seriously, weighed against one another by a stringent set of criteria that includes one’s performance in a previous position, education and professional readiness for the job, personal values and prospective conduct as head of state.
Unfortunately, that is not what happens here. What takes place, instead, is yet another form of elimination process whereby people vote for the least objectionable candidate after considering why others would be worse choices.
Who emerges therefore is not the best candidate but the least evil one. As a result, right after an all-too-brief honeymoon period, people are quick to become disillusioned with the one they had thought was the safest choice.
The story is always that of the last one standing—“matira ang matibay,” in Tagalog. Alas, the last is not necessarily the worthiest one.