Lacierda twits Chiz: It was UNA, not LP who brought Poe’s ‘misfortune’

Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda slammed vice presidential aspirant and Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero for being unfair in saying that the administration is behind the slew of disqualification cases against presidential aspirant Senator Grace Poe.

Malacanang said that it was the opposition party United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) who first raised the questionable issues of residency and citizenship of Poe, which have been the main arguments by various camps in disqualifying Poe to run for the 2016 presidential race.

“[It] is really unfair for us, for this administration, to say that we’re behind all [these] campaign[s] to disqualify Senator Grace Poe.”

“What we’re saying is that we were not the ones who caused [this] situation. Somebody raised that issue and it’s not the Liberal Party; it’s Congressman Toby Tiangco who raised that issue. So don’t attribute to us the misfortune that Senator Grace Poe is now experiencing,” Lacierda said.

READ: Escudero traces anti-Poe lawyer to Roxas camp

He said that the various disqualification cases filed against Poe were being pushed by several personalities such as former University of the East (UE) College of Law dean Amado Valdez, professor Antonio Contreras, and former senator Francisco “Kit” Tatad.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) Second Division has recently ruled in favor of the petition of lawyer Estrella Elamparo which seeks to cancel the certificate of candidacy of the neophyte senator.

“These are not people who are allied with us and neither is Atty. Elamparo. So we are not the immediate cause, neither are we the remote cause of what’s happening right now to Senator Grace Poe,” Lacierda said.

READ: Escudero: Comelec’s disqualification of Poe ‘unfortunate, wrong’

Escudero has earlier said that Elamparo is connected with the camp of Manuel “Mar” Roxas II.

Meanwhile, on their part, UNA denied its hand in the disqualification cases against Poe, saying that they too are victims of “malicious persecution” and that they “uphold and respects due process of law.” CDG