Noy confused about Comelec ruling on Poe’s DQ case

ROME – President Aquino admitted that he finds the circumstances surrounding the decision of the Commission on Elections’ Second Division to disqualify Sen. Grace Poe as “convoluted.”

When asked by a television reporter to react to the Comelec ruling on Poe last Friday, Aquino said he could only offer tentative answers.

“We asked for a copy (of the ruling). It isn’t that long; it’s about 34 pages. I have read it three times and some points were not that clear,” the President said.

Citing the ruling, Aquino noted that then Immigration Commissioner Alipio Fernandez Jr. issued an order granting Poe’s petition for the reacquisition of Philippine citizenship in 2006.  

“It seems that in 2006, what Al Fernandez said was very clear. But since Sen. Poe is a foundling and the identity of her parents has not been established, how do you establish that her parents are Filipinos? Was the appreciation of the BID (Bureau of Immigration and Deportation) right or wrong?” Aquino said.

“Add to that her (Poe) travels on a passport that is not a Philippine passport at a time that she took oath in the Philippines,” he added.

Aquino said he has asked Justice Secretary Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa, Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. and other lawyers to brief him about the decision, but admitted that he still could not figure out some things.

“I asked for a briefing and repeatedly went over the points but I still have many questions,” he said.

Aquino also noted that in 2001, Poe gained her American citizenship but renounced it five years later. He, however, claimed there are conflicting timelines in the Comelec decision.

“There is a portion there about the consul of America, I think in 2011 or if I remember it right, 2010, there was a Filipino notary public and she renounced (her citizenship) there,” he said.

Aquino, who admitted that he is no expert in immigration law, also questioned what passport the senator used when she acquired her dual citizenship.

“In 2010 I appointed her (as chairperson of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board) and she supposedly renounced her (American) citizenship. But there was action with the consul the year after according to this document. And before that, she acquired (Filipino citizensip) in 2006,” the President said.

“There’s clarity and at the same time it leads to so many more questions.” ?

Aquino nevertheless said it’s not for him to decide on the problem since the Comelec and the Senate Electoral Tribunal are independent bodies.

Poe, who has been topping polls on presidential bets, was disqualified from running for president due to her failure to meet the 10-year residency requirement mandated by the Constitution. 

Poe has vowed to appeal the decision before the Supreme Court.

She is also convinced that her rivals, Vice President Jejomar Binay and Liberal Party presidential bet Manuel Roxas II, are behind the disqualification cases filed against her.

Binay and Roxas have denied the allegations.

Aquino said Poe’s citizenship was not discussed in detail when he appointed her as MTRCB chairperson.

“She kept telling me that she had a panel of lawyers who have studied the matter and they were ready to answer any and all questions and I took it at face value,” Aquino said.

When asked whether he is glad that Poe rejected his offer to become the vice presidential candidate of the Liberal Party, Aquino did not give a direct answer.

Aquino said that he likes LP vice presidential bet and Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo as a candidate.

“I like the things that she’s been saying. She is of the same fold without an iota of divergence, in a sense,” Aquino said.

“It’s more total – I’m talking about Leni and Mar — as opposed to we support you 85 percent or 90 percent. I have more confidence to say that the present line up, I can fully support them without an iota of doubt or uncertainty,” he added.

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III said that the odds are stacked against Poe in her motion for reconsideration before the Comelec en banc with regard to the decision by the poll body’s Second Division to disqualify her as a presidential candidate.

Pimentel said that the three members of the Comelec’s Second Division that ruled to disqualify Poe would be part of the en banc that is composed of all six commissioners plus the chairman.

He said that the three would just need one more vote to uphold the Second Division’s ruling against Poe.

“It would be difficult for Senator Grace to reverse this,” said Pimentel, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights.

Pimentel emphasized that the issue being faced by Poe is one that is legal and not political or moral as argued by many on her side.

“I wish her all the best,” he said.

Pimentel is president of PDP-Laban, which has Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte as its presidential candidate.

Acting on the petition filed by lawyer Estrella Elamparo, the Comelec’s Second Division voted unanimously to disqualify Poe as a presidential candidate.

Sen. Vicente Sotto III said that he is hopeful that the Comelec en banc would take a different view from that of the Second Division and vote in favor of Poe.             – With Marvin Sy