Presidential aspirant Miriam Defensor Santiago. YUJI VINCENT GONZALES/INQUIRER.net
The 2016 presidential race could be between Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago and former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas if two of their rivals would be barred from seeking the presidency, Santiago said on Tuesday.
The two that Santiago was referring to are Senator Grace Poe, who is facing several disqualification cases over her citizenship and residency in the Philippines, and Vice President Jejomar Binay, who is facing possible arrest pending resolution on plunder case lodged against him at the Office of the Ombudsman.
“Si Grace Poe, meron siyang mga kaso for disqualification, malamang na itong Nobyembre matapos na ‘yun. Kung laban sa kanya ang decision, eh hindi na siya makakapagpatuloy,” Santiago said in a phone patch interview.
(Grace Poe has disqualification cases, and maybe it will be resolved by November. If the decision is against her, then she won’t be able to proceed with her candidacy.)
“Ito naman si Vice President Binay merong kaso sa Ombudsman; kung mag-resolve o mag-decision ang Ombudsman, pwede naman din na ma file-an siya ng kaso sa Sandiganbayan at hindi siya bibigyan ng piyansa kaya makukulong din siya kamukha noong ibang na charge with plunder.”
(Vice President Binay, on the other hand, has a case at the Ombudsman; if the Ombudsman decides on it, then a case would be filed at the Sandiganbayan and he would not be allowed bail, so he could be jailed just like the others who were charged with plunder.)
“Kaya may question mark itong dalawang ito; maiiwan na lang si Secretary Mar Roxas at ako,” she further said.
(That’s why they still have a question mark, which leaves Secretary Mar Roxas and me.)
But Santiago said while Roxas might have enough the necessary resources to run his campaign, he doesn’t have an appeal to the masses which he needs to overcome.
“Ang pinakamalaking balakid sa kanya ay yung si Mar kasi, may pagka-academician ang behavior niya. Hindi siya pulitiko na magalaw, maingay, at madaling makipaghalubilo sa mga tao at magustuhan din siya ng mga masa, kaya it’s his own personality that might become a problem, but there’s still time for him to solve that problem,” she said.
(The biggest obstacle for Mar is that his behavior comes off as an academician. He’s a politician that doesn’t move constantly, isn’t loud, and doesn’t mingle easily with other people in order for the masses to like him, so it’s his own personality that might become a problem, but there’s still time for him to solve that problem.)
“Ako naman, alam na media kung ano ang mga deprensya ko,” the senator said in jest.
(When it comes to me, however, the media already know my imperfections.)
At present, however, Santiago could not say who among the three — Roxas, Poe, and Binay — would be her strongest rival in the 2016 presidential race.
Asked if she thinks the disqualification cases against Poe had basis, Santiago said, “Oh, definitely. Under the Constitution, there are really valid questions of law that will arise.”
But for her, she said, the most important question is not the citizenship or the residency issue against Poe but whether or not she was indeed a natural-born Filipino.
“If it’s the Constitution itself which requires that candidate for president or vice president should be natural-born, that must be followed very strictly because it’s a Constitutional mandate or order o kaya if there’s any doubt, the doubt must be resolved against a candidate because it’s found in the Constitution,” she explained
“Any provision of the Constitution must be interpreted strictly because it’s the Constitution; it’s not an ordinary piece of legislation and if we have a question of residency or citizenship, it will not be as important as whether she is not natural born because the implication in the Constitution is that being a natural born citizen is so important that it has to be placed in the Constitution,” she further said.