Attacks against Poe simply political stunts, says Drilon

UNLIKE the allegations against the Vice President, the issues that are now being thrown at Senator Grace Poe are just plain politics, Senate President Franklin Drilon said on Thursday.

“Pulitika lang yan. Honestly, it’s all politics, Yung banat kay Grace…as the Binay camp keeps on saying, pulitika lang yan,” Drilon said during the weekly “Kapihan sa Senado.”

(It’s just politics. Honestly, it’s all politics. The attacks against Grace…as the Binay camp keeps on saying, it’s all just politics.)

“And why it is politics at this stage? Number one, Senator Poe has not even said that she will run. All those questions will be resolved once she files her certificate of candidacy but before that pulitika lang yan,” he said.

Drilon, who is pushing for Interior Secretary Mar Roxas to be the Liberal Party’s standard-bearer in 2016, reiterated that the questions raised against Poe’s qualifications to run for a higher post in 2016 had no basis.

Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco, interim president of Vice President Jejomar Binay’s United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), said Poe was not qualified to run for either president or vice president because she did not meet the 10-year residency requirement of the Constitution as her certificate of candidacy (COC) showed that she was a resident for six years and six months when she ran in 2013.

“Walang basehan ’yon. Sa aming mga abogado naintindihan namin ang prinsipyo ng animus revertendi or intention to return kaya yon pong physical presence ay hindi kailangan in terms of establishing your residence,” he said.

(It has no basis. For us lawyers, we understand the principle of animus revertendi or intention to return that’s why physical presence is not necessary in terms of establishing your residence.)

READ: Drilon says Animus Revertendi provides leeway in Grace Poe case

“Halimbawa ikaw ay taga-San Juan, kahit dun ka nakatira sa San Juan ay pwede kang tumakbo sa Maynila, dahilan sa sinasabi mo, “intention to return.” Ganun yun eh. That is, hindi ka kailangan physically present sa isang lugar.”

(For example, you are from San Juan, even if you live in San Juan, you can still run in Manila because you have an intention to return. That’s it, you don’t need to be physically present in one place.)

“Maraming congressmen ganyan eh. May mga bahay sila outside of their districts, and yet they continue to represent their districts,” Drilon pointed out.

(There are many congressmen who are like that. They have houses outside of their districts and yet they continue to represent their districts.)

Because physical presence, he said, was not the only factor that the courts will look at in determining residence.

“Otherwise, hindi ka naman pupwede na dalawang places ka physically. So the intent to return is a principle that is accepted in jurisprudence,” he further said.

(Otherwise, you can’t be physically present in two places at a time. So the intent to return is a principle that is accepted in jurisprudence.)

Asked about the issues against Binay, Drilon said, “Darating din yun sa husgado yun kaya dapat sagutin.”

“These are all being aired here in the Senate hearings in aid of legislation and if there are charges there, they must be responded to,” the Senate leader said.

At least 10 senators signed a committee report that recommended the filing of plunder charges, among others, against the Vice President, son Makati Mayor Junjun Binay, and other personalities involved in the alleged overpricing of the Makati City Hall 2 parking building. AC

READ:Senators ink draft report vs. Binay, 3 other to follw suit