THE REAL deal is that the presidential aspirants are off and running and the Supreme Court decision on Sen. Grace Poe’s candidacy has nothing to do with a looming tight finish.
“This is a victory not only for myself, but also for the poor and the downtrodden … as well as for all women,” an exuberant Poe told a cheering crowd at an International Women’s Day rally in Manila.
“For me, it is already a victory to reach this point. We did not expect this,” she told reporters.
“The Supreme Court decision has no bearing in our campaign,” said Rico Quicho, spokesperson for Vice President Jejomar Binay. “This election is not about who the opponents are but who is the most prepared to address the problem of poverty.”
Quicho stressed that the most prepared leader to do this was Binay, who was campaigning in Zambales province.
A spokesperson for Liberal Party (LP) standard-bearer Mar Roxas congratulated Poe.
“We’ve always been prepared to run against Senator Poe,” said Akbayan Rep. Barry Gutierrez. “We have been campaigning the past few months on the assumption that she was in the race.”
“The Supreme Court has ruled, and we congratulate Senator Poe on their decision to let her run as President. We now welcome the verdict of the people come May,” he said.
Gutierrez said the LP-led Daang Matuwid coalition would stay the course. “With 62 days left till elections, it simply means we have to keep focused on the campaign and our message,” he said.
Best wishes
Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said: “Good luck to Sen. Grace Poe. I wish her the best.”
Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, president of Duterte’s political party, PDP-Laban, said the court’s decision had no effect at all on Duterte’s presidential campaign.
ALL CLEAR Sen. Grace Poe, who has been allowed to run for President by the Supreme Court after it junked disqualification cases against her, addresses an International Women’s Day rally in Liwasang Bonifacio in Manila. EDWIN BACASMAS
“We never based our plans on the assumption that Poe would be disqualified on questions,” Pimentel said.
The senator said that Duterte, with Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano as his vice presidential candidate, had a coherent platform that addressed the main concerns of Filipinos today, which are crime, corruption and poverty.
“We believe the Duterte-Cayetano’s platform of ‘Tunay na Pagbabago’ will gain the support of more Filipinos as we approach the May election and we are confident that we will prevail once all the votes have been counted,” Pimentel said.
Not qualified
Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago has previously held that under the Constitution, Poe is not a natural-born Filipino so she is not qualified to run for President.
Santiago, a recognized constitutional law expert who is seeking the presidency for the third time, explained that Poe could not be legally considered a natural-born citizen since she could not establish that at least one of her biological parents is a Filipino.
To Poe’s argument otherwise, Santiago said: “That is her interpretation. But that is not the interpretation of constitutional law.”
Full range
“That is the problem when an ordinary citizen will read the Constitution without (legal) background, because she might be disappointed,” she added.
A vice presidential candidate, Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., welcomed the court ruling. “That is good,” he said in a text message. “This way the Philippine voter has a full range of choices of individuals and programs to choose from,” he said.
In his Twitter account, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV said, “Democracy and justice prevailed over technicalities in the decision of the Supreme Court.”
“More importantly, with this out of the way, we should now focus on who among the presidential candidates is truly worthy to lead our country for the next six years,” said Trillanes, an independent vice presidential candidate.
The LP vice presidential candidate, Leni Robredo, said she respected the court’s decision. “It’s time to move on and focus our attention on more important things and to study the platforms and programs offered by the candidates to the people,” she said in a statement.
Shifting sand
The Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) president, Deputy Speaker Giorgidi Aggabao, said he expected a shift in political alliances to Poe.
“We believe that political fence sitters would finally make up their mind to back Poe. Everyone knows that with no legal impediments to Senator Grace’s presidential run, she will own the finish line. Tapos na ang boxing,” Aggabao said in a phone interview.
He said that he expected at least 50 LP representatives and other parties to declare their support for Poe.
Poe’s campaign manager, Cebu Rep. Joseph Ace Durano, expected a bigger lead for Poe in the survey rankings.
Poe has a slight lead over three other presidential candidates in the last two surveys of Pulse Asia, but Durano projected that a favorable decision would mean a 10 percentage points jump in Poe’s favor. With reports from Christine O. Avendaño, DJ Yap, Jeannette I. Andrade, Dona Z. Pazzibugan, Niña P. Calleja, Leila B. Salaverria and Gil C. Cabacungan