Poe supporters adding pressure on Supreme Court

The camp of presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr. vowed yesterday to hold mass actions starting tomorrow until the Supreme Court comes up with a decision on the petitions seeking Poe’s disqualification.

Lawyer Ed Araullo, spokesman for the "Pinoy si FPJ" movement, said prayer vigils, noise barrages and rallies will be held at the Sandiganbayan, Quezon City Memorial Circle, Plaza Miranda and Welcome Rotonda, among other places.

"We have a plan for mass mobilization but we cannot divulge them for obvious reasons," Araullo said. "This will create strong pressure (on) the Supreme Court."

The Supreme Court said it will be only a matter of days before it issues a decision on the petitions, which contend that Poe is not a natural-born Filipino and thus not qualified to run for president.

The justices may yet decide they lack the jurisdiction to rule on the citizenship issue, a senior officer at the Supreme Court said Friday.

Under that scenario, they could send the case down to a lower court or stand aside entirely, leaving in place two rulings made by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) that stated Poe is eligible to run.

People’s Movement Against Poverty head Rolando Lumbao, however, warned that if Poe is disqualified, some supporters might become violent. Lumbao’s group is a member of the Pinoy si FPJ movement.

Retired generals Antonio Villanueva and Pedro Navarro, both members of the Alliance of Generals for Poe (AGPoe), said their group is pushing for peaceful and orderly elections, but pointed out that they cannot be held responsible if soldiers and policemen still in active service participate in the protest actions.

"We retired generals are not allowed to make political statements before active soldiers ... but the issue is now in the open and active members in the military can read it in the papers," Villanueva said. — With Delon Porcalla, Edith Regalado, Reuters