CELEBRATING the Senate Electoral Tribunal’s decision junking the disqualification case against her, Senator Grace Poe described the ruling as “a triumph for foundlings” and “for the over 20-million Filipinos who voted to make her the No. 1 senator in 2013.”
Poe admitted that she was nervous about the entire case because it would have laid the basis for her disqualification to run for president, but the senator said she believe that what she was fighting for was right.
Voting 5-4, the nine-man SET junked the disqualification case filed by Rizalito David, a senatorial candidate who was defeated in 2013 elections.
Poe said she was elated that Senator Bam Aquino, cousin of President Benigno Aquino III, voted to dismiss the case based on his beliefs and not because of party politics.
Bam was one of the five senators who voted against Poe’s disqualification, the other four being Senators Vicente Sotto III, Cynthia Villar, Loren Legarda and Pia Cayetano.
In voting to dismiss the disqualification case, Aquino said his thoughts were more focused on the ruling’s implications on the thousands of abandoned children in our country. He said this was also the basis of the other members of SET.
“The expectation is, in politics, all your decisions must be political. However, sometimes we need to think using our principles, conscience and the trust given to us by the people,” said Aquino.
In fairness to his party mates, Senator Aquino said no one attempted to influence his decision.
“It is provided there and we agree on that law that a child found in a country has a presumption that he came from that country. If you naturalized the foundlings, the privileges and the rights that can be given to the foundlings will be lost as natural born citizens and one can be considered a naturalized citizen,” explained Aquino.
“That will become a problem in looking for a profession, when you want to become a doctor, nurse and of course when they want to serve the government, that will also become a problem,” he added.
While the SET rejected Poe’s disqualification from the Senate, Aquino said there are still other cases pending at the Comelec that seek to disqualify her.
“In fact, you can expect that in the next couple of weeks, the Comelec will decide if she will be disqualified from running for president,” said Aquino.
But Poe’s running mate, Sen. Francis Escudero is confident Poe will hurdle all the disqualificafion cases against her, noting that Republic Act 9925 recognized that a Filipino who renounced his citizenship reacquired his original status when he returned to the country.
“Now, I have a question. We are treating our OFWs as heroes. When they are abroad or even after they come back, does that change when they suddenly want to serve the government? Do we suddenly call our OFWs traitors when they want to run and serve the government?” asked Escudero.
“In addition to that, from where they are, I am sure that their love for our country becomes deeper because they badly miss it when they are in a foreign land,” he said.
Meanwhile, Poe said that aside from fighting for the rights of foundlings, her platform of government also included expanding the 4Ps program, modernizing agriculture and allocating funds for organic farming, making education more accessible to poor Filipinos, and improving infrastructure and the delivery of social services, especially to marginalized sectors.
She said the problem in our country — many were being left behind. Due to this, she cited the need for a government with a strong conviction and with a heart to help.
“We have many problems but we already have the solutions, and if we will join together, we can improve our country,” said Poe.