Whistleblower, senatorial bet: Poe unqualified to run; it’s Binay against Duterte

CEBU, Philippines - Independent senatorial candidate Levi Baligod said yesterday that Senator Grace Poe is not qualified to run for president.

“Hindi talaga siya qualified to run due to her residency issue,” he said in the wake of Poe’s disqualification.

Baligod was in Cebu yesterday for a visit and talk with some local politicians.

Professor Joey Sinsayen Pinalas, a political analyst, earlier said that Poe’s runningmate Senator Chiz Escudero has a big responsibility to carry about why she was disqualified.

Pinalas said in a statement that aside from being Poe’s campaign strategist, Escudero is a lawyer and has a law firm that can help her.

But Baligod said any lawyer cannot do anything about it because Poe is bound by her sworn declaration.

“Kulang si Poe ng six months sa residency niya. She declared it under oath,” he said.

With Poe disqualified, Baligod said he is seeing Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Vice President Jejomar Binay fighting in the presidential race.

“Because Duterte and Binay do not see Mar Roxas as a threat. According to some, kahit walang opponent si Roxas, mahihirapan pa rin siyang manalo,”said Baligod, who is most likely to run under the slate of Duterte.

Baligod also believes that Duterte will not be disqualified to run for president.

“These are all the works of the Liberal Party, who plans to eliminate all the opponents of Roxas,” he said.

Baligod further said that he is running as senator because he wanted to continue his advocacy in fighting corruption.

“Because I realized if you are just an ordinary citizen you can only do so much. I took consideration that if I want to win in a boxing match, I should be inside the ring,” said Baligod, who filed several cases against Janet Napoles, 120 congressmen and 14 senators in connection with the pork barrel scam.

He said that if corruption is stopped, pork barrel can be utilized judiciously for meaningful programs such as addressing the problems in the agriculture sector, education sector, and health sector.

“We want to bring back decency in government. A government that we can trust and be proud of,” he added. — Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon/NSA (FREEMAN)