I’m a natural-born Filipino – Poe

MANILA, Philippines - Keeping her grace even under fire, Sen. Grace Poe welcomed yesterday the disqualification case filed against her before the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) seeking to unseat her over citizenship issues and insisted that she is a natural-born Filipino.

Poe said this gives her an opportunity to answer all the questions regarding her citizenship and residency.

Poe reiterated that she was a natural-born Filipino and that she has all the documents to show that she has complied with the legal requirements for senatorial candidates when she ran in 2013.

“I am actually relieved that a petition has been filed so that I can answer the questions on my citizenship and residency,” Poe said.

“It is an opportunity for the truth to come out and for this issue to be resolved once and for all,” she added.

Poe assured the 20 million plus Filipinos who voted for her, as well as the rest of the country, that their confidence in her is not misplaced.

“I remain truthful to our countrymen. I am a Filipino by birth, abode and choice,” she said.

Lito David, a losing senatorial candidate of the Kapatiran party in the 2013 elections, finally filed yesterday – for the second time – a petition before the SET in Quezon City seeking to unseat Poe.

David was accompanied by some members of an urban poor community when he paid the P50,000 filing fee and P10,000 deposit and the SET officially accepted a quo warranto that sought to oust Poe from the Senate.

He was not able to file the petition on Wednesday after he failed to pay the P50,000 filing fee and P10,000 deposit.

David said some of his friends donated money and lent him additional funds.

He claimed that Poe should not have been elected in 2013 because she is not a natural-born Filipino and she lacked the residency requirement for a senatorial candidate – a violation of the Constitution.

David explained that the SET would now start hearing his petition, citing that this is the first time that the tribunal received an election-related complaint this year.

“We’ll just wait for what the Senatorial Electoral Tribunal will do because this is the first time, at least for this year, that a petition was filed before them. I don’t know of any other petition filed before them since 2013. So, I suppose they can give their time to study this. The process will start now,” he said.

Meanwhile, David mulls to file a “misdeclaration complaint” before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) against Poe next week.

He said that Poe has committed an election offense after she had sworn and declared that she has been residing in the Philippines for six years and six months before the May 13, 2013 elections.

David said Poe “materially misrepresented” in her Certificate of Candidacy that she had complied with the two-year residency requirement imposed upon a candidate for the Senate.

“Since it was sworn on and notarized, it is considered an election offense if you knowingly put inaccurate information,” he said.

David also plans to file complaints questioning the qualification of Poe when she served as chairman of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB).

Binay, allies not behind petition

Vice President Jejomar Binay denied yesterday speculations that he was behind the filing of a petition to unseat Poe.

“There’s a saying that when you point one finger, there are three fingers pointing back at you. As for me, my conscience is clean. I just learned about it last night,” Binay told reporters in Gerona, Tarlac.

Binay said neither he nor his allies are involved in the petition against Poe.

When asked to comment on reports that David was a former chief of staff of his ally former senator Francisco Tatad, Binay said, “Whatever I do, they’ll accuse me. I think that’s illogical.”

When prodded to name who he thinks were behind the petition, Binay said he does not want to make accusations.

“I’m telling you I’ve nothing to do with it,” he said.

But Binay said the Filipino people, and not him, would benefit from the petition filed by David since this would allow Poe to finally clear the issues regarding her citizenship.

Binay was also asked whether David has basis in filing his petition. The Vice President said, “He (David) has filed (the petition) so I think he has basis for that.”

Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is ready to offer his “brotherly advise” to Poe, whose nationality is being questioned to apparently derail any possible plans for her to run for the presidency next year.

“Ay naku masanay ka na (Get used to it) is my brotherly advice. Three years in national politics and that’s how it is. And now that you are a presidentiable, more will be thrown at you,” Marcos said.

Poe has been rumored to be a daughter of Marcos’ late father President Ferdinand Marcos. Both camps have denied the rumors.

“Again in the three years that we have worked together, that I have spoken to her, that I have known her, she’s much tougher than she looks. And I think she can face these squarely. And I think she will come out with her dignity intact,” Marcos said.

Marcos, who is also being seen as a presidentiable, expressed belief that Poe could very well take care of herself but he is ready to help if needed.

Poe had overtaken consistent front-runner Binay in the presidential surveys.

Before the issue on Poe’s citizenship broke out, Binay had invited Poe to be his running mate in the 2016 elections.

Poe, daughter of the late actor Fernando Poe Jr., however declined to run with Binay, who is facing various corruption allegations.

Despite leading the presidential surveys, Poe has yet to declare her intention to run for higher office in 2016.

Opposition lawmakers slammed yesterday moves to unseat Poe.

Isabela Rep. Rodito Albano III said the disqualification suit was obviously politically motivated.

“Why only now? They’re obviously afraid of Sen. Poe’s possible presidential bid. They’re daydreamers,” Albano said.

Rep. Silvestre Bello III of 1-BAP party-list said the suit was apparently a preemptive move by political groups threatened by Poe’s possible presidential bid.

Deputy Speaker and Isabela Rep. Giorgidi Aggabao, president of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), believes that Poe is inclined to run for president in the 2016 elections.

Aggabao said the NPC, the second largest political party in the country, is offering its machinery to support Poe. – With Robertson Ramirez, Paolo Romero, Christina Mendez