Bam Aquino ‘uses conscience’ in voting vs Poe’s disqualification case

Senator Bam Aquino. FILE PHOTO

Senator Bam Aquino said he used his conscience, without any political considerations, when he voted to junk the disqualification against Senator Grace Poe.

READ: Grace Poe all smiles after SET junks disqualification case

Aquino, a member of the Liberal Party of presidential bet Mar Roxas, was among the five member-senator of the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) who voted to dismiss the case filed by defeated senatorial bet Rizalito David, who seeks to unseat Poe in the Senate.

“Ang desisyong ito, hindi po si Sen. Poe ang iniisip natin. Ang iniisip natin ay kung ano ang magiging implikasyon sa libu-libong bata na naabandona sa ating bansa, at ito ang naging basehan ng ilan sa amin sa SET,” he said in a statement on Wednesday.

(We were not thinking of Senator Poe when we made the decision. What we are thinking of is its implications to the thousands of children who were abandoned in our country and that was the basis of some of us in the SET)

“Ang expectation kasi, sa pulitika, dapat pulitikal lahat ang desisyon mo. Pero paminsan-minsan naman po, kailangan nating mag-isip gamit ang prinsipyo, gamit ang konsensiya at gamit ang tiwala na ibinigay ng taumbayan.”

(The expectation is, in politics, all your decisions must be political. However, sometimes we need to think using our principles, conscience and the trust given to us by the people.)

“Ang pagiging daang matuwid ng aming partido, hindi po ito slogan lang. Ito po’y totoo, ito po’y nasa puso naming lahat at kung nasa daang matuwid ka, talagang kailangan iyong prinsipyo mo at konsensiya ang gagamitin mo,” he added.

(The straight path of our party is not just a slogan. It is real and it is in our hearts and if you are really in a straight path, then you really need to use your principles and conscience.)

The senator also said that in fairness to his party mates, no one had attempted to influence his decision.

Aquino explained that they decided to declare a foundling a natural born based on international law.

“Nakalagay po doon at sumasang-ayon tayo sa mga batas na iyan na ang isang bata na nahanap sa isang bansa ay mayroong presumption o mayroong pag-i-intindi na siya ay mula sa bansang iyon,” he said.

(It is provided there and we agree on that law that a child found in a country has a presumption that he came from that country.)

“Kung ginawa po nating naturalized ang mga foundling, iyong mga karapatan at pribilehiyo na maaring maibigay sa mga foundling bilang natural born citizen ay mawawala at isa ay maituturing na naturalized citizen.”

(If you naturalized the foundlings, they will lose the rights and privileges that they can enjoy as natural born citizens and one can be considered a naturalized citizen.)

“Magiging problema po iyan sa paghahanap ng ibang propesyon, sa pagiging doctor, nurse at kung siyempre ay kung gusto nilang manungkulan sa gobyerno, magiging problema rin po iyan,” he further said.

(That will become a problem when you’re looking for a profession, when you want to become a doctor, nurse and of course when they want to serve the government, that will also become a problem.)

READ: Poe’s SET victory has no impact on Comelec, SC cases – lawyers

Although the SET has decided not to disqualify Poe from the Senate, Aquino noted that there are still other cases pending at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) that seek to disqualify the lady senator, this time, from seeking the presidency in 2016.

“In fact, you can expect na in the next couple of weeks, magde-decide na rin po ang Comelec kung siya’y madi-disqualify sa pagtakbo bilang presidente,” Aquino said.

(In fact, you can expect that in the next couple of weeks, the Comelec will decide if she will be disqualified from running for president.) RAM