AFTER the camp of presidential candidate Senator Grace Poe blamed the Palace for the Commission on Elections’ adverse ruling on her candidacy, the Aquino administration again denied it had anything to do with the poll body’s decision.
“In what came out of the disqualification case, there was a dissenter who is also an appointee of President [Benigno] Aquino. So how can they say the commissioners were controlled or influenced?” asked Presidential Deputy Spokesperson Abigail Valte.
“I think the facts will bear themselves out that these allegations are mere allegations and do not have any basis in fact,” she added.
Valte claimed the administration’s critics cannot even claim that the people who filed the complaints were encouraged by the Palace in order to support the candidacy of Liberal Party standard bearer Manuel Roxas II, who is lagging behind in all opinion surveys.
Valte said two of the complainants, former Senator Francisco Tatad and De La Salle University professor Antonio Contreras are not LP allies because they have been severely critical of the administration.
Another petitioner, lawyer Estrella Elamparo, was a former GSIS employee who eventually left and is in no way connected to the administration.
Valte then appealed to the administration’s critics to stop connecting the involvement of the administration with the petitioners.
“They have their own reasons so let us not connect them to the administration because that’s a bit of a hard sell,” Valte said.
But the Poe camp, continued its campaign sorties in the provinces and found herself in Isabela province, a known bailiwick of the LP.
“Nothing has changed. We will not allow these political cases to distract us from our true reason for pursuing higher office, which is to bring economic growth to every Filipino in every part of the Philippines,” Poe said in a statement.
Isabela Gov. Bojie Dy, who had earlier expressed support for LP bet Mar Roxas, invited Poe to be the special guest at the Christmas party of the province’s barangay leaders.
Poe’s counsel George Garcia said their camp will soon file a motion for reconsideration before the Comelec en banc to seek a reversal of the First Division’s ruling. A similar review has been sought for the ruling of the Second Division.
Poe’s camp had presented more than 400 pages of evidence to prove that she meets the citizenship and residency requirements for president, and has expressed confidence that they would win the legal battle, should it reach the Supreme Court.
Garcia reiterated that “the Supreme Court will have the final say and unless the Supreme Court renders a decision, the fight will go on.”
She said she will remain focused on her work in the Senate and in bringing her platform of government to Filipinos, especially the marginalized who have been deprived of the benefits of economic growth.
