EDITORIAL - Poe should have the grace to accept defeat

The Comelec did what it had to do -- disqualify Grace Poe as a candidate for president in the 2016 elections. As a constitutional body, it cannot but abide by what the Constitution requires of those who seek the highest post in the land, which is that only natural-born citizens can be elected president. Poe is a foundling and as such her parents cannot be determined.

Failing that determination, Poe cannot claim to be natural-born because the possibility of her being the offspring of non-Filipinos cannot be ruled out. What Poe cannot win legally, she tries by courting sympathy, claiming the attempts to disqualify her are an affront to all foundlings. If she continues to pursue that line, she will only prove even more what many already suspect -- her unfitness for leadership, as seen by her refusal to abide by what the Constitution clearly provides.

The presidency is not the only way Poe can serve the country, if serving the country is truly her motive. In fact, she can serve the country by respecting the Constitution, thereby strengthening it, instead of trying to twist its provisions to suit her personal intentions, thus weakening it. She can also spare the country a useless and unproductive emotional schism by clinging to a position that is clearly not what the law allows everyone similarly situated, not just her.

Poe, of course, has the right to appeal the Comelec decision by one of its divisions to the Comelec en banc and even beyond that to the Supreme Court. But that would just be a futile exercise as all of these bodies are sworn to uphold the Constitution and are not expected to stray from the applicable constitutional provisions that bear on her case, more so that these provisions are very clear, explicit and easily understood by all, except to the most obstinate and intransigent.

Poe may have derived great comfort and inspiration from an earlier ruling by the Senate Electoral Tribunal which allowed her to keep her Senate seat despite a similar attempt to disqualify her on the same grounds. Such comfort and inspiration are, however, ill-derived and misplaced and a more honest person would have readily seen the decision for the sham that it was.

In the 5-4 SET decision, it is instructive that the five who voted in her favor were all politicians, senators who are colleagues of hers in the Senate. Of the four who voted against, three were justices of the Supreme Court who all voted in accordance with what the law says. The fourth who voted against was another senator, thereby lending credence to the political nature of the voting by the senators -- she is the daughter of one of those Poe is running against for president.

If Poe wants to salvage what is left of her political career, it is best that she not tempt fate by pursuing her case all the way to the top where she could be disqualified with a resounding finality that not even her popularity can hope to temper. What would she do if rebuffed, do a people power? Poe may be popular, but she is definitely not the stuff of which real leaders are made, leaders that people would join in a fight against the Constitution and duly-constituted authority.