Lawyer: 10-year residency rule for presidential bets mandatory

THE 10-year residency rule for candidates aspiring for the highest office in the land is mandatory.

Atty. Raymond Fortun, in a public post in his Facebook account, said there is a reason why the people who crafted the 1987 Philippine Constitution came up with such a requirement.

“There is a reason why the Constitution requires a 10-year residency for a presidential candidate — at the least, it is to guarantee that a candidate knows what ills this country, and has a love for it enough to desire to be a catalyst for change,” Fortun said.

“If you really placed ‘6 years, 6 months’ as of May 13, 2013, please show a love for your chosen (?) country by conceding that point and follow and obey this country’s laws. Otherwise, we cannot expect that you would follow those same laws if you become president,” he added.

Poe was a foundling, an abandoned child in a church in Jaro, Iloilo before she was legally adopted by movie stars Fernando Poe Jr and Susan Roces.

She moved to the United States to finish her studies and work.

She only decided to return to the Philippines after her father died following the 2004 national elections. She later renounced her US citizenship so she could be appointed in the Philippine government, as chair of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board in 2010.

Last week, Navotas Rep. and United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) interim president Toby Tiangco questioned Poe’s qualification to run for President for failure to meet the residency requirement mentioned in Article VII, Section 2. The residency requirement for candidates running for president or vice president is 10 years, while that for senator is two years.

“You DID state UNDER OATH that your residency in the Philippines as of May 13, 2013 was 6years, 6 months. I as a lawyer will hold you to that oath. You KNEW or OUGHT TO HAVE KNOWN the implications of that declaration. That you are now trying to wiggle your way out of that declaration under oath somehow tarnishes you in my eyes because THE LEAST that I expect from you is HONESTY,” added Fortun. (NOTE: emphasis included in his post).

Binay’s daughter Makati Rep. Mari-len Abigail Binay on Friday appealed for an end to the word war between Poe and officials of the opposition UNA, and said the residency issue should instead be settled in court.

Fortun echoed Rep. Binay’s sentiment: “This case will definitely be decided by the courts. That is why this [Facebook] post is BOTH an appeal to reason and to emotion.”