SENATOR Ferdinand Marcos Jr. offered Senator Grace Poe some “brotherly advice” to not lose hope in the face of the decision of the Commission on Elections 2nd Division to disqualify her from running for president in 2016.
Poe’s running mate, Senator Francis Escudero, said the ruling was only a temporary setback, and that he was confident she would get relief from the Comelec en banc or the Supreme Court.
The 2nd Division of the poll body on Tuesday barred Poe, the frontrunner in all the recent opinion polls, from running for president due to “material misrepresentations” about her residency and citizenship in her Certificate of Candidacy.
But Marcos told Poe to keep going because she would succeed in the end as long as she knew she was doing the right thing.
Marcos again dismissed as “an urban legend” suggestions that he and Poe, a foundling, were actually siblings and said he saw no need to prove this through a DNA test.
Marcos said he was not surprised at all by the verdict, but said Poe’s camp could still do a lot to challenge it.
“The process is still long. Let us wait. We leave it to the best of our legal minds to decide exactly what to do,” he said.
Marcos also said the move against Poe was most likely part of a black propaganda campaign.
“This is not new, and we know there are many there that instead of helping their candidates are destroying them,” he said.
Escudero said he was confident that Poe would prevail.
“We still have faith in our justice system. We believe that in the end, Senator Grace will be allowed to run not only based on international and domestic laws, but also based on the factual situation of the case,” Escudero said.
He added: “If we’re not able to achieve or attain justice in the Comelec 2nd Division, we are still hopeful that we will be able to attain it either in the Comelec en banc or in the Supreme Court.
“At the end of the day, laws are invented and created to achieve justice. I am of the firm belief that in the end justice will still prevail.”
Poe is also facing three other petitions for her disqualification from the presidential race due to citizenship and residency issues. The cases have been consolidated and are pending before the Comelec 1st Division.
Escudero said the Senate Electoral Tribunal has already ruled that Poe is a natural-born Filipino citizen as defined in the 1987 Constitution, and therefore she is qualified to run and be elected as senator and even president.
“Senator Grace is a citizen of the Philippines from birth, without having to perform any act to acquire or perfect her Philippine citizenship,” he said.
Escudero could not hide his disappointment after the commissioners of the 2nd Division ignored a long-standing decision of the Supreme Court that he said is applicable to Poe’s case.
The Comelec’s 2nd Division said in its ruling that Poe misrepresented her period of residency in her 2016 COC because it did not jibe with the certificate for senator she filed in 2013.
“I am amazed with the resolution. The Comelec 2nd Division has no basis in saying that the 2013 CoC was correct and the 2016 CoC was not correct. Up to now, I have been reading the Comelec resolution many times over and I failed to see any justification for that kind of conclusion,” Escudero said.
He added that the 2nd Division deliberately disregarded the doctrine of animus revertendi or the “intention to return” as cited by the Supreme Court when it allowed former First Lady Imelda Marcos to run as a representative of Leyte in 1995.
Despite her long absence from the province, Mrs. Marcos was allowed to run because of her previous manifestations of her intention to return.
Escudero said just like that of Mrs. Marcos, Poe’s honest mistake in indicating her residence in her CoC for the Senate to be only “six years and six months” was not binding proof of the length of her domicile in the Philippines.
He said the Supreme Court was also clear in saying that statements made in the CoC should not be taken against a candidate.
“I am wondering why the Comelec 2nd Division completely ignored the Supreme Court decision on the matter,” Escudero said.
In the House, Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares denounced the 2nd Division ruling, saying it violated the right of the sovereign people to choose their president.
“Senator Poe has decided to return and already resided and worked in the Philippines since May 2005, she even enrolled her children in our country’s schools during that time. This was after Fernando Poe Jr. died in December 2004. Senator Poe has already proven that she has indeed an intention to return, to stay and actually resided in the Philippines since May 2005 thus surpassing the residency requirement for running for the presidency,” Colmenares, a senatorial aspirant under Poe’s banner, said.
“This is really sad because the LP and its cohorts are using every issue they can hit Senator Poe with, even the foundling issue. They are essentially discriminating against abandoned children and depriving them of their rights,” Colmenares added.
He added that the decision confirmed the belief of many that Aquino-appointed members of the poll body would yield to the Liberal party’s schemes to eliminate a popular rival so that its standard bearer, Manuel Roxas II, would have a chance of winning.
“This type of political maneuver has also been done before against Senator Poe’s father Fernando Poe Jr., though the Supreme Court then allowed him to be a presidential candidate a few weeks before the election. But the damage had been done to Poe,” Colmenares said.
He urged the commissioners not to be used by the ruling Liberal Party.
Reps. Roman Romulo of Pasig City and 1BAP party-list Rep. Silvestre Bello III also spoke up for Poe.
Romulo, also a senatorial aspirant in Poe’s team, said the 1987 Constitution and other jurisprudence clearly provide that Poe is qualified to run for president.
The Palace on Wednesday appealed for sobriety and respect for the law following the 2nd Division ruling.
“Yesterday, a decision was rendered by a division of the Comelec on the candidacy of Senator Grace Poe. This decision was arrived at in the course of the constitutionally mandated functions of the Comelec,” said Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda.
“We understand that Senator Poe’s legal counsel will pursue and exhaust all remedies available to them, as is their right in this process. We believe that sobriety and respect for the law and its processes are the best way forward for all parties concerned,” Lacierda added. With Sandy Araneta