Poe admits jitters ahead of SET decision

PRESIDENTIAL contender Sen. Grace Poe on Monday admitted to being a bundle of nerves on the eve of the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) meeting, which is expected to rule on the disqualification case filed against her.

The nine-member SET is scheduled to meet at noon today (Tuesday) at the Manila Polo Club in Makati City to vote on the quo warranto petition filed by Rizalito David questioning Poe’s victory in the 2013 senatorial race. David lost in that race.

Lawyer Irene Guevarra, SET spokesperson, said the decision will be announced to the public once it is promulgated.

“I’m only human. Of course, I’m (both) nervous and sad,” Poe told reporters when asked if she was anxious about the possible outcome of the SET deliberation.

“But I’m also confident because I believe I’m right and that what I’m fighting for is right. While some of them (SET members) have political considerations, I hope they will also consider that the law was made to bring about justice,” she said in Filipino.

Poe, who addressed the First International Symposium on Moringa at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Quezon City, maintained that her insistence that she was a natural-born citizen was also a fight for the rights of other foundlings like herself.

David, who had filed his candidacy for President in the May 2016 elections, had questioned Poe’s citizenship, arguing that foundlings like her were considered “stateless.”

Lawyer Manuelito Luna expressed confidence that the SET would favor his client, David, and disqualify Poe as a senator.

“Due to certain developments in the case as well as political factors, the SET might favor [David’s] cause. All these are expected to affect one way or the other the judgment of each of the members of the tribunal,” Luna said.

Among the “developments” in the case, according to Luna, were “[David’s] evidently superior arguments as well as supporting evidence as set forth in various submissions, including the oral presentation, negative DNA result, not to mention the political realignments triggered by the candidacies of national figures.”

Biggest factor

But what the 1935 Constitution says about the question of citizenship “will be the single biggest factor affecting such a crucial decision,” Luna said.

David said the 1935 Constitution, which was still in force when Poe was born in 1968, did not bestow natural-born citizenship on foundlings.

Poe, 47, was reportedly found in a Catholic church in Iloilo City and was legally adopted by the late action star Fernando Poe Jr. and his wife, actress Susan Roces.

The SET’s decision may affect Poe’s presidential bid since only natural-born Filipino citizens may run for President under the Constitution.

Asked if she was wary of any particular member of the electoral tribunal, Poe said: “It’s not about being afraid. I’m just praying hard for some of them because, in my mind, they have other considerations.”

Among the SET members is Sen. Nancy Binay, the daughter of Vice President Jejomar Binay, one of Poe’s rivals in next year’s elections.

Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, who chairs the SET, had earlier expressed the view that Poe was not a natural-born citizen unless she could show that her biological parents were Filipino citizens.

Hope for fairness

Other members of the SET are Associate Justices Teresita Leonardo-de Castro and Arturo Brion, and Senators Tito Sotto, Loren Legarda, Pia Cayetano, Bam Aquino and Cynthia Villar.

Sotto is seeking reelection under Poe’s Partido Galing at Talino, while Aquino is the campaign manager of vice presidential candidate and Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo, the running mate of ruling Liberal Party standard-bearer Mar Roxas.

Poe said she hoped the SET members would be fair in deciding her case, as she maintained that she was ready to go up to the Supreme Court should the electoral body nullify her win in the 2013 elections.

Said Poe: “I will be glad if they vote in my favor because it’s a heavy burden that I’m fighting for hundreds of thousands of children who are similarly situated.”

“If they disqualify me, those children will be in peril. They will become stateless in our country,” she added.

Regardless of the SET’s ruling, the senator said she would continue going around the country ahead of the official campaign period.

“I cannot just surrender. This is not just for me, but also for those who trusted me and the children who may be affected,” she repeated.