EDITORIAL - Poe should not shoot the messenger

The charges filed against Senator Grace Poe questioning her citizenship and her residency must have gotten under her skin because she is now responding to the questions in media, instead of waiting for her turn at the proper forum and there tell her side of the story. The latest report is that Poe is asking Rizalito David, the man who sued her, where he got the P50,000 to pay the filing fee. She is now going after David instead of what he has to say.

What Poe appears to insinuate is that there could be forces behind David, directing him to do what he did. If Poe chooses to proceed in that direction, she stands to lose more than what she possibly might. There is reason for the confidence of many people that the cases against her will eventually be thrown out. But while she can possibly win her legal battles, she could lose in the public eye by waging war on David instead of the issues he raised.

For regardless of whether David is acting on his own or is being manipulated by others with a political agenda to pursue, the fact remains that it is the right of David or anybody else for that matter to raise questions about the qualifications of Poe to hold public office. It is not the motive or the lack of it that matters but the validity of the issue raised.

Another political figure prominently in the news because of a slew of corruption allegations is Vice President Jejomar Binay. Aside from the allegations of corruption themselves, there is one other crucial factor responsible for the drop in Binay's ratings, and it is his insistence in questioning the motives of his detractors instead of answering the questions directly.

Now, Binay may be correct in saying that he will answer the questions in the proper forum, just as he may be correct in suspecting that there are motives behind the questions that go far beyond any simple desire to make him publicly accountable. But the allegations against Binay have become so prominent before the public consciousness that they have taken a life of their own.

As Binay is now experiencing, his refusal to tackle them head-on is proving too costly for his presidential campaign. Under a completely different set of circumstances, Poe could be brought to suffer the same fate if she is not careful in handling the issue hounding her, particularly when it comes to questioning motives instead of just allowing the search for truth run its natural course.

In the public eye, Poe is perceived to be comparatively cleaner than Binay. She should be able to see the trap that lies before her and stop dead in her tracks. As mentioned, their circumstances are different. Binay claims to prefer the proper forum than public discourse. Poe seems to have fallen for the opposite. Poe should skirt public discourse, especially if she shoots the messenger instead of the message, and just await her opportunity at the proper forum.