Two senators are vouching for Senator Grace Poe’s Filipino citizenship, one even describing her as an “ideal Filipina,” who had once given up her Filipino citizenship for the love of her family.

Senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, a member of the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) hearing the disqualification case against Poe, noted how the lady senator gave importance to her family when she left the Philippines to be with her husband, who is a US citizen.

“Sinunod nya yung tawag ng pamilya. Yun ang pangangailangan ng pamilya, kailangan tumira sya dun, kasama nya yung asawa dahil taga roon ang kanyang asawa at may trabaho ang kanyang asawa kailangan syang sumunod dun. Kaya sa opinyon ng iba tulad ko, ideal syang Filipina na mahalaga ang pamilya,” Sotto said in an interview at the Senate Monday.

(She prioritized her family, that what’s her family needed that’s why she needed to live there (US) together with her husband, who lived and worked there so she had to follow him. That’s why in other people’s opinion, including me, she’s an ideal Filipina, who gives importance to her family.)

Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero also insisted on Tuesday that Poe is a natural-born Filipino citizen, saying that under the 1987 Constitution, international law and domestic laws, a foundling found in the Philippines is presumed to have Filipino biological parents.

“To say that a foundling like Sen. Grace cannot be considered a citizen of the Philippines is a violation of an individual’s basic and alienable human right to bear a nationality from birth,” said Escudero reacting to defeated senatorial candidate Rizalito David’s new allegation that Poe was dragging other foundlings into the issue concerning her citizenship.

READ: Grace Poe says attendance in disqualification case ‘sentimental’

However, Escudero said it was David himself who brought up the foundling issue when he filed the case at the SET against Poe.

He said David seemed to be backtracking from his generalized statement on foundlings and is now insisting that the disqualification case “is personal to Poe and does not affect other foundlings.”

READ: SET to focus on Grace Poe’s citizenship, not on residency—lawyer

“This was not the first time David backtracked on his issues against Sen. Grace. Earlier, he also agreed to drop the residency issue in the petition he had filed against her due to a rule requiring the filing of disqualification case based on residency within 10 days from proclamation of the candidate,” said the senator.

Escudero also questioned David’s motives for engaging Poe in a political discourse considering that the SET had already given due course to his petition.

“The petition was given due course and Sen. Grace already faced him at the SET. I don’t understand why he called for a press conference against Sen. Grace, unless his motives are purely political,” he said.

“If indeed political, who is behind David? Why is he engaging Sen. Grace in a political discourse outside the SET?” he asked.

Escudero earlier claimed that some quarters, particularly possible presidential contenders, could be using David to pressure Poe against running for president. Maila Ager/RAM

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