Grace to announce plans within two weeks

MANILA, Philippines - Within two weeks, Sen. Grace Poe will officially reveal to the nation her plans for the 2016 elections.

This was according to Sen. Francis Escudero, who promised yesterday in an interview over dwIZ to make his own announcement immediately after Poe’s “because my own decision will be based on that.”

Poe has been going around the country in the past weeks in what many see as an indication that she has made up her mind on running for president.

Senate President and Liberal Party vice chairman Franklin Drilon earlier said he believed Poe is bent on running for president and that the LP should abandon hopes of getting her as running mate of party standard bearer former interior secretary Manuel Roxas II.

Poe has repeatedly voiced her preference for Escudero as her running mate in case she decides to join the presidential race.

Escudero himself has expressed readiness to run for vice president and support Poe in whatever way he can.

“While my decision is tied to what she decides to do, her decision is not tied to my own decision,” Escudero, a close friend and confidante of Poe, said.

Poe’s announcement would most likely come ahead of a ruling by the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) on a disqualification case filed by Ang Kapatiran party-list defeated senatorial candidate Rizalito David against her.

David challenged the qualification of Poe to run for senator, citing her allegedly not being a natural-born Filipino and her failure to satisfy the residency requirements for candidates, as she was previously a resident of the United States.

In an interview at the Supreme Court the other day where the preliminary conference of the SET was held, Poe said that she was close to coming up with a decision for the 2016 elections.

Poe said that her battle at the SET is in defense of her reputation and is not in any way related to her plan to run for higher office in 2016.

She said that the allegation that she lied about her status before the 2013 senatorial elections was something that she would disprove through documents she has submitted to SET.

Apart from Poe, another politician reportedly running for higher office, Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is also expected to make an announcement on his decision before the Oct. 16 deadline set by the Commission on Elections for the filing of certificates of candidacy.