GRACE POE
MANILA – In a vote seen to impact the status of Filipino foundlings, five senators elected yesterday to affirm the status of Sen. Grace Poe, a front-runner in the Presidential elections, as a natural-born Filipino citizen.
Poe scored an early victory against questions on her qualifications ahead of the 2016 presidential race, winning the favor of the nine-member Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) yesterday in a close 5-4 vote junking the belated bid to disqualify her from the 2013 Senatorial elections.
Following a quick vote held at the exclusive Manila Polo Club yesterday, Poe’s colleagues in the chamber Senators Loren Legarda, Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, Cynthia Villar, Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino and Pia Cayetano voted to junk the disqualification case filed by defeated 2013 senatorial candidate Rizalito David.
All Supreme Court magistrates in the body — Associate Justices Teresita Leonardo-De Castro, Arturo Brion and the SET Chair Antonio Carpio – voted to disqualify Poe, along with Senator Nancy Binay.
“It was a vote of 5-4, five dismissing the petition of Mr. David, and four concurring with the petition of Mr. David. In short, five voted to uphold the natural-born citizenship of Sen. Mary Grace Poe Llamanzares, and four decided against that,” Legarda told reporters.
“That means, five voted and considered the fact that, as a foundling, Sen. Poe is natural-born,” said Legarda.
The case is separate from several cases against Poe pending before the Commission on Elections (Comelec), this time questioning her credentials to run for the presidency.
Asked how the SET ruling might impact other cases pending against his client, Poe’s lawyer George Garcia said: “The Comelec can make an independent consideration and decision not dependent on the SET decision.”