Senator Bongbong Marcos waves at the residents of Old Balara in Quezon City during a visit on Wednesday, January 6, 2015.
INQUIRER PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE
The decision of the Supreme Court to allow Sen. Grace Poe to run for the presidency is “healthy for the electoral process,” vice presidential candidate Sen. Bongbong Marcos said.
“It is a welcome development. It is healthy for the electoral process as the Filipino voters will have more choices in the elections,” he said in a statement Tuesday night.
The SC ruling with a voting of 9-6 in favor Poe reversed the previous decision of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to disqualify her from running.
READ: SC: Poe can run for President
Details were not given as to how the judges decided the matter of Poe’s residency and citizenship.
Comelec earlier disqualified her from joining the presidential race for supposedly failing to meet the 10-year residency requirement.
Poe was found in a church in Iloilo when she was a baby and was adopted in 1968. She spent most of her life in the United States and returned to the Philippines in 2005.
She married a Filipino-American and acquired a US citizenship in 2001. She reacquired her Filipino citizenship in 2005 and renounced her American citizenship in 2010.
Because of the SC ruling, Marcos said Poe could now focus on her campaign.
“I wish her all the best,” he said.
READ: All go for Poe campaign after SC win
Marcos, who is statistically tied with Poe’s running mate Sen. Francis Escudero in pre-election surveys, will take his campaign to Mindanao this week.
He will visit General Santos, Koronadal, South Cotabato, North Cotabato, Davao del Sur and Zamboanga del Sur starting Wednesday until Saturday.
His running mate, presidential candidate Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, has no scheduled campaign activity this week. CDG
READ: Poe, Binay share lead; Escudero, Marcos ‘statistically tied’—Pulse Asia