SAYING she is still a presidential candidate, Senator Grace Poe on Tuesday hit out at the Commission on Elections for accusing her of lying.
At a news conference in Quezon City, Poe, along with her lawyer George Garcia, maintained that the fight is far from over.
Poe vowed to exhaust all legal means to prove she has met all the requirements to run for president, and that she has never lied to Comelec in any documentary evidence she submitted when she ran in the 2013 elections.
“They [Comelec] did not examine well all my evidence. I am not lying. I cannot believe that all of them are lawyers and that they did not even look at my evidence,” she said.
“Imagine that, Comelec was telling me I was lying.”
She said the Supreme Court’s issuance of a temporary restraining order stopping Comelec from disqualifying her is sending a strong signal that she is very much qualified to seek the highest post in the land.
“I am giving my full trust to the Supreme Court as an institution and wholeheartedly thanking Chief Justice Lourdes Sereno, and Justices Mariano del Castillo and Marvic Leonen for giving the truth a chance to come out, and to stop the suppression against me,” she told reporters.
“I admit that the Comelec decision [to disqualify me] has brought sadness to all of us just days before Christmas. But the Supreme Court restored my trust and hope to give meaning to [my] Christmas.”
She gave her supporters the assurance that she is still a presidential candidate.
“My name will not be removed from the ballot. People ask me, will I still go on? I told them to continue to pray. Our fight will continue.
Let us face the New Year with strength and belief that the truth will ferret out,” she said.
Last Monday, the Supreme Court issued two temporary restraining orders against the decisions of Comelec cancelling Poe’s Certificate of Candidacy.
When asked about running mate Senator Francis Escudero’s loyalty, Poe said Escudero will never turn his back on her.
“He and his family just went on a vacation [the reason he was not around with me],” she said.
“I still have the confidence of Chiz’s full support. He never left me behind even way back in 2004. It is now for you to judge.”
