Poe urges public: Vote for right reasons

Presidential candidate Sen. Grace Poe speaks before a rousing crowd that welcomed her during a campaign sortie in Muntinlupa City Monday night, April 19, 2016.
INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

With less than a week before the May 9 national elections, presidential aspirant Senator Grace Poe called on the public on Tuesday to vote for the “right reasons,” saying that the right to vote was not just a political right but a moral obligation.

“We take heed of the Pastoral Letter of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) to guide us as we face election day on May 9,” Poe said in a statement.

“In the midst of the contest for the best platform, debates of ideas and exchanges of tirades, we find in the words of the Church that what matters at the end of the day are the basic human elements of conscience, dignity and abiding faith,” she said.

The CBCP earlier released a pastoral letter urging voters to “discern (their) choices.”

READ: Nuns all over PH pray for divine intervention

For the past weeks of the campaign, Poe said she and her group have shunned mudslinging and kept the level of debates on issues.

READ: Grace Poe: Stop mudslinging, debate platforms instead

“Respect should be the rule even among political rivals,” she said.

“We hope that the voters would be enlightened by the CBCP’s reminders. We should vote for the right reasons because the exercise of the right of suffrage is not only a political right; it is also a moral obligation.”

“We join all people of faith in asking for God’s continued guidance, mercy and protection as we seek a more just, peaceful and progressive Philippines,” Poe added. RAM/rga