Escudero: Case vs Grace Poe ‘funny, irritating’

Sen. Francis Escudero. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero on Thursday dismissed the case filed against fellow Senator Grace Poe as “funny and irritating.”

In an interview aired over Radyo Inquirer 990 AM, Escudero said that the case which would have been filed by Rizalito David challenging Poe’s citizenship before the Senate Electoral Tribunal was already three years late.

READ: Losing senatorial bet files petition to oust Grace Poe

“Well, una nakakatawa na nakakainis. Nakakatawa kasi hindi handa sa mga kinakailangan para magfile. Nakakainis dahil bakit ngayon lang?” (Well, it’s funny and irritating. It’s funny because he was not prepared to file. It’s irritating because why was it filed only now?) said Escudero.

The senator added, “Magtatatlong taon nang senador si Sen. Poe, nag-number one pa. At kung may ganyan man dapat noon pa.” (Senator Poe has been a senator for the past three years and even topped the polls. If they want to challenge her citizenship, they should have done it early on.)

David wanted to file a case before SET against Poe on Wednesday but failed because he could not pay the P50,000 filing fee. He con­tended that Poe, the adopted daughter of movie ac­tors Fer­nando Poe Jr. and Su­san Ro­ces, was not a nat­u­ral-born Filipino.

Escudero believes that Poe can weather this new political storm and that the public can see through David’s motive.

“Basta may paratang sa’yo gaano man kasama pakinggan basta hindi totoo kayang-kaya mo yan sagutin at ipaliwanag sa publiko,” (As long as you know that the allegations against you are not true, you should be able to respond to them) the senator said, adding “ang publiko hindi rin naman ganun kadaling maniwala.” (The public cannot be easily fooled.)

For her part, Poe said she was disappointed that David failed to file a case as this would have been a chance to defend herself.   CB / Arianne Merez/Inquirer.net trainee

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