INDEPENDENT presidential candidate Grace Poe-Llamanzares launched her bid for the presidency on Tuesday, promising a “government with a heart” to all her “fellow Filipinos” who have been oppressed and belittled by the Aquino administration.
Poe kicked off her campaign at historic Plaza Miranda in Manila’s Quiapo district as another magistrate of the Supreme Court questioned the Commission on Elections for making a conclusion of law on the citizenship of foundlings like Poe, even before duly ascertaining the facts.
Photo by: Danny Pata
“I have been oppressed and belittled, but I rise to fight again after each battle, after the passing of each storm of my life and fate,” said Poe who is facing disqualification charges before the Supreme Court due to questions on her citizenship and residency.
“They may well call it drama, but this is my real life,” she said. “It is the reality that many Filipinos live everyday.”
“Despite all these, I stand before you today as a Filipino, a woman who knows how to fight bullies and oppressors, a leader with a heart that loves our country and people. It is from the people that I draw strength so I may serve them truly and effectively,” she added.
Poe, accompanied by her husband Neil and son Bryan, vowed to address the issues for which the Aquino administration has been severely criticized.
She said she will pursue inclusive programs for the economy, education, universal health care and vowed to run a government against corruption and discrimination.
“We are all the same,” she said. “Each of us should be able to realize our dreams. Every child should be able to dream of becoming a teacher, a policeman, a prosperous farmer, a lawyer and even a president of our country.”
“I am Grace Poe, and in our Gobyernong may Puso [government with a heart], you are my family,” she said even as the citizenship of foundlings like her were being discussed in the Supreme Court.
During the continuation of the oral arguments on Poe’s petitions seeking to reverse the Comelec decision disqualifying her from the presidential election, Associate Justice Francis Jardeleza questioned the Comelec’s factual basis in disqualifying the senator for being a foundling.
Jardeleza stressed that the Comelec may have violated Poe’s right to due process and the right to equal protection clause as enshrined in the constitution.
“The Comelec may have crossed a line when it issued the decision. You may have deprived Senator Poe of her right to due process,” the magistrate told Commissioner Arthur D. Lim, who represented the Comelec in the oral arguments.
According to Jardeleza, the Comelec has the burden to provide a factual finding based on evidence to justify its conclusion that Poe is not a natural-born citizen.
“Where in the two resolutions of the Comelec did it make a finding of fact based on other evidence presented by Poe? To my mind, you did not make a factual determination based on evidence,” Jardeleza told the Comelec official.
Lim replied that the Comelec discussed the facts presented in the case as regards Poe’s status as a foundling.
“Despite totality of fact, facts independently and collectively [presented] do not satisfy the definition of what is natural-born. Our citation of jurisprudence on each allegation, is a ruling on those facts,” Lim said.
Jardeleza asserted that while the Constitution on the status of foundlings, they should be accorded the same rights given to citizens of the country.
“This is a very difficult case because there is a great silence by the Constitution about what to do with foundlings. (The Constitution) does not contain the word ‘foundlings,’ it does not tell us what to do. We must decide this based on the bill of rights, specifically on the basis of due process clause and the equal protection clause,” Jardeleza said.
“Comelec may have crossed a line. You may have deprived petitioner Poe of a due process right. I cannot find you, the Comelec, making the finding of fact on those matter,” Jardeleza said.
“By the way you decided [the case against Poe], you have deprived petitioner Poe of her due process right to have her claim to natural-born status, dismissed without considering the evidence,” Jardeleza lamented.
Earlier, Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno and Associate Justice Marvic Leonen also expressed misgivings at the ruling of the Comelec.
Sereno earlier cited the Ellis case, which involved a child left in a hospital named “Baby Rose” who was declared Filipino citizen by the court for purpose of adoption.