Poe’s lawyers led by former solicitor general Estelito Mendoza and Sixto Brillantes pointed out that some of the documents submitted by petitioner Victorino Fornier to the Comelec seeking to disqualify Poe from the presidential race due to his questionable citizenship, was "a product of some artificial means."
Without mentioning Fornier, leaders of the Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP), the political coalition supporting the candidacy of Poe, threatened to file criminal charges against the petitioners who sought Poe’s disqualification.
"At a proper time, they will have to answer for their actions," said Sen. Vicente Sotto III of the KNP.
Mendoza, for his part, explained any photocopy of an original document supposedly obtained from an ecclesiastical institution — Convento de Santo Domingo in Intramuros, Manila — could not be possible since the place was totally destroyed during World War II.
Fornier submitted the document last week, which purportedly indicated Poe was not a Filipino citizen by birth.
Fornier has claimed the 64 year-old actor’s father Allan Fernando Poe was a Spanish citizen while his mother, Bessie Kelley, was an American.
Fornier alleged that the marriage of Poe Sr. to Kelley was bigamous because of his previous marriage to a certain Paulita Gomez, in effect making Poe an illegitimate son.
But Mendoza pointed out any document showing the marriage between Poe Sr. and Gomez should be considered "worthless" since there was no evidence submitted to prove that it was a photocopy of an original document.
The lawyers also submitted a statement from a maternal aunt, Ruby Kelley Mangahas, who stated she never knew of any bigamous marriage or a case filed by her sister Bessie against Poe Sr.
She said that given Poe Sr.’s popularity as a movie star, such a case would not have escaped publicity.
Granting, Mendoza said, for the sake of argument that such marriage did exist, this would also be irrelevant and immaterial since the Constitution stated that persons born of Filipino fathers are natural-born Filipinos.
Mendoza said there is no constitutional provision discriminating against illegitimate children.
Mendoza also submitted documentary evidence showing Poe Sr. was a Filipino who served in the guerrilla movement against the Japanese invaders during the war, refuting claims that he was a Spaniard.
In submitting the 29-page answer to the disqualification petition, Mendoza argued that Poe should be considered a natural Filipino by "operation of law."
He said Poe is a natural-born Filipino "by birth and by blood" since Poe’s grandfather, Lorenzo Pou, was a Filipino virtue of the Treaty of Paris in 1898.
The treaty, in which the Philippines was ceded by Spain to the United States for $20 million, declared that all its inhabitants "shall be deemed and held to be citizens of the Philippine Islands."
Mendoza said Poe Sr. became a natural-born Filipino since the fundamental law in operation at the time before the 1935 Constitution states that persons born in the Philippines are Filipinos.
"As you can see, this (disqualification case) is just a device to win an election by disqualifying your opponent," Mendoza told a news conference at the Manila Hotel yesterday.
At the same news conference, KNP leaders declared the separate charges of perjury and falsification of public documents filed against Poe before the Manila Prosecutors Office were "groundless and premature."
KNP spokesman Rod Reyes said the complaint was also based on the disqualification case against Poe pending before the Comelec. The poll body is scheduled to hear the petition on Monday.
The former press secretary declared the cases were part of "stepped up hatchet jobs" against Poe.
Reyes said Poe himself expects his detractors to throw everything at him "including the kitchen sink."
Poe’s allies in the opposition have tagged the administration as behind the campaign to discredit Poe in the presidential race.
But President Arroyo, who is seeking a full six-year term in the May elections, instead offered to help her presidential rival secure official documents from concerned government agencies to defend himself on the accusations.
Mrs. Arroyo earlier declared that she believes Poe is a natural-born Filipino.
For his part, the movie icon thanked Mrs. Arroyo for the help. "I thank her. I think she meant it," he said.
At a gathering of the Association of Integrated Muslims in Club Filipino at Greenhills, San Juan last Friday, Poe vowed to reach out and forge peace with the Muslim separatists.
"I will personally reach out to our brother Muslims to help and show them that together we can conquer not only our country but also globally," he said. "I will try to communicate with them." -With Ann Corvera