We should let Grace run – Noy

MANILA, Philippines - If he had his way, President Aquino would allow Sen. Grace Poe to run for president and let the people decide her fate.

Aquino said he would not want Poe to be disqualified from the presidential race in May 2016, whether on the basis of her questionable citizenship by being a foundling or her residency issue.

“At the end of the day, sovereignty resides in the people. Let the people decide,” the President said in a meeting with journalists at Hotel Intercontinental in Kuala Lumpur over the weekend.

Rizalito David, a losing candidate in the 2013 senatorial election and now a presidential aspirant, yesterday appealed the ruling of the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) junking his disqualification case against Poe.

In a 140-page motion for reconsideration, David asked the SET to reverse its decision last week and declare Poe ineligible for her senatorial post for not being a natural-born Filipino.

David alleged that the five senators in the majority ruling – Vicente Sotto III, Loren Legarda, Pia Cayetano, Cynthia Villar and Bam Aquino – committed grave abuse of discretion in voting for the dismissal of the petition.

“They based the merits of the case on political grounds instead of legal grounds. And what happened there, they violated the Constitution by issuing such a decision,” David told The STAR.

David accused the five senators of violating the rule on the primacy of the Constitution over international laws.

“The five senator-judges failed to uphold judicial integrity in interpreting the Constitution and international laws,” David’s lawyer Manuelito Luna told reporters.

David asked the SET to instead adopt the dissenting opinions of the three Supreme Court justices in the tribunal as the “correct reading, analyses or application of Article IV, Section 1 of 1935 Constitution (citizenship), Article VI, Section 3 of the 1987 Constitution (qualifications for senators) and the natural-born citizenship provisions in the 1987 and 1973 Constitutions.

Voting 5-4 last Nov. 17, SET members declared Poe as a natural-born citizen eligible to be elected senator.

Five senators held that Poe should be considered a natural-born Filipino despite being a foundling based on customary international laws providing right of every human being to a nationality and the state’s obligations to avoid statelessness and to facilitate the naturalization of foundlings.

But SET chairman Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and members Justices Teresita Leonardo-de Castro and Arturo Brion and Sen. Nancy Binay, daughter of presidential contender Vice President Jejomar Binay, argued that the Constitution precedes customary international laws and that the rules on natural-born eligibility should be strictly applied.

They believed that Poe, being a foundling, could be considered only as a naturalized Filipino unless she is able to trace her biological parents and prove that either of them is Filipino.

David remains confident that the SET will be on his side this time because of the public criticism on the tribunal’s decision.

“There is always that instinct that they will change their decision. There is a possibility that at least one or two of them will change their position,” he said.

‘Comelec should dismiss case vs Poe’

Poe’s camp said yesterday the Commission on Elections (Comelec) should dismiss the election offense case filed against her by David at the poll body after the SET junked the case against her.

Poe’s lawyer George Garcia said the election offense case was tied to the disqualification case, which was also lodged by David.

He reiterated that the election offense and the disqualification cases are based on similar grounds, stemming from David’s allegation that Poe had committed “material misrepresentation” on her certificate of candidacy for senator in the 2013 elections.

“The SET decision has a big effect on the case. Since SET itself is saying that she is natural-born, therefore, it eliminates the presumption of probable cause against us,” he told Comelec reporters. 

Garcia noted they would make this manifestation at the Comelec Law Department now hearing the case.

But David’s lawyer said “the Comelec is not bound by the decision of the SET.”

“The Comelec is an independent constitutional body... so the wrong decision of the five-man majority of the SET will in no way affect the disposition of the case before the Law Department of the Comelec,” Luna said.

Cayetano sibling’s different position

While Sen. Pia Cayetano voted in favor of Poe, her brother Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano expressed a position against Poe.

“Senator Grace, is it worth it to disregard the Constitution just so you can become president? Once upon a time you said that you love your family so you took your oath (of allegiance) to America and you became an American. Now if you truly love your country, then pick a president that is a pure, natural-born Filipino so that we do not trample on the Constitution,” he said.

Sen. Alan Cayetano is supporting Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who recently expressed interest to run for president. He also offered to be Duterte’s vice presidential running mate.

The younger Cayetano said he completely disagrees with the ruling of the five senators in the SET as it was not based on law, but on other considerations, including political.

But his sister maintained that her decision was based on her appreciation of the case, not politics.

In a statement, Sen. Pia said that her vote as a member of the SET “is not to be equated with who I am supporting for the presidency.” 

She said she supports Duterte in his bid for the presidency in the 2016 elections.

“We may have different opinions on the SET issue, but I have the utmost respect for him (Duterte) and my brother, Sen. Alan Cayetano. I believe they can do great things for this country and I will passionately campaign for them for president and vice president,” she added.  – With Edu Punay, Marvin Sy, Sheila Crisostomo, Robertzon Ramirez