Poe should not run for president ­— Leni

MANILA, Philippines - Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo thinks that Sen. Grace Poe should not run for president because she once renounced her being a Filipino and acquired American citizenship and lived in the United States for 14-15 years.

Asked on the late ABS-CBN News program Bandila on Tuesday night if she thought Poe should seek the highest office despite citizenship and residency issues, Robredo tried to evade the question and started to reason out.

But when prodded to just answer yes or no, she said, “No.”

She also lamented Poe’s comparison of the citizenship question hounding the senator with a similar issue once raised against the congresswoman’s husband, the late local government secretary Jesse Robredo.

She said the two cases are different.

Robredo said her husband’s citizenship was once questioned because his father was a Chinese born in the Philippines.

But unlike Poe, she said her husband never gave up his being a Filipino, she said.

“The premises in the questions on their citizenship are different,” she added.

Defeated senatorial candidate Rizalito David has asked the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) to unseat Poe on the ground that she is not a natural-born Filipino.

David argued that the senator, being a foundling, should be considered as stateless and not a natural born Filipino, since her parents’ citizenship could not be determined.

Even if her parents were Filipinos, Poe lost her status as a natural-born citizen when she acquired US citizenship and swore allegiance to America, he said.

Poe claims she is a natural-born Filipino, having been born in Iloilo, even if her parents’ citizenship was not known.

Rep. Lito Atienza of party-list group Buhay has urged people not to vote for a presidential aspirant who once swore allegiance to and vowed to die for another country.

Several lawyers, including former Misamis Oriental assemblyman Homobono Adaza, hold the view that a Filipino loses his or her status as a natural-born citizen if he or she acquires foreign citizenship.

Poe talks on being adopted

Amid deliberations on a petition questioning her nationality, Poe discussed her experience being an adopted daughter of the late action star Fernando Poe Jr. and movie actress Susan Roces.

“I welcome the opportunity to speak to you about adoption, not least because I myself am adopted and therefore have intimate experience of the topic,” Poe said during the 13th Philippine Global Consultation on Child Welfare Services.

She said the government should take action to ensure that every child would be able to develop and reach full potential and have a fighting chance to live a life of dignity and happiness. 

“The process of adoption will certainly have a role in this plan of action,” she added.

Poe’s lawyers have filed a reply on the petition pending before the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET), seeking to disqualify her. 

She said she was grateful to talk about adoption to professionals from government and civil society, advocates and prospective parents, whom she described as the “people who care about the topic as much as I do.” 

 The senator, who turns 47 today, expressed belief that poverty prompted the increase in the number of unwanted children whose parents opt to give them up rather than have them live in miserable conditions.

While she is an advocate of adoption, Poe said she is saddened that poor families are forced to part with their children.

“I cannot help but find this truly tragic, because it underlies a willingness to keep the child if the parents or parent only had the means to do it,” she said.

“This is why we should find ways to afford our people with decent and gainful employment, and make basic food and services affordable. This will ease the financial burden of raising children. Ultimately, my hope is that no Filipino should give up a child out of economic hardship,” she added.

“The slightest stroke of ill fortune could have rewritten my life story into something much different and perhaps less happy. This, in a way, is the situation of most children you are trying to place for adoption,” Poe said. 

She praised the Inter-Country Adoption Board (ICAB) for providing children with good homes and fulfilling people’s wish to become parents.

Poe said each individual adoption success was a triumph of human goodwill that goes beyond statistics even as it also reflects a sad reality in the Philippines.

She said the government, as part of its general responsibility to protect the welfare of children, should endeavor to attend to their needs promptly.

This includes strengthening the system of birth registration, which the senator sought to streamline through Senate Bill No. 2892.

The bill provides that any child found and classified in need of special protection should receive, within 48 hours, documentation, medical attention or temporary custody. 

“This bill ensures that the adoption process is streamlined and not impeded by red tape,” she said.

Poe said her advocacy for adoption stemmed from her desire to honor her parents.

Meanwhile, party-list group An Waray, which is based in the Visayas, supported yesterday the expected presidential and vice presidential candidacies of Poe and Sen. Francis Escudero.

An Waray Rep. Neil Montejo said the potential Poe-Escudero ticket “is gaining momentum, as evidenced by political figures who had expressed their intention to run for the Senate in a unity slate led by the two senators.”

“I already know of two party-list representatives who are entertaining serious senatorial bids, and are ready to join Sen. Grace and Sen. Chiz once they announce their candidacies,” he said. – With Christina Mendez