As pointed out in the previous column, outgoing Manila Vice Mayor Isko Moreno, who is running for the Senate under the ticket of independent presidential candidate Grace Poe, should refrain from making untenable statements in defending Poe from the onslaught of disqualification cases filed against the senator before the Commission on Elections (Comelec). If Moreno wants Senator Poe to win in the presidential elections, he ought to shut up on this issue.
Poe’s spokesman, Rex Gatchalian, is no different from Moreno in defending his principal from the series of disqualification cases filed in the Comelec.
In an attempt to defend Poe’s long stay in the United States as an American citizen, Gatchalian likens the senator to the many overseas Filipino workers and other migrant workers who have decided to settle in foreign lands. Gatchalian concludes that like OFWs and migrant workers, it cannot be said that Poe turned her back on the Philippines when she willingly renounced her Philippine citizenship to become an American citizen years ago.
Gatchalian’s analogy has no basis. The best rebuttal to his analogy comes from pro-administration vice presidential bet Leni Robredo, who said, “Filipinos working abroad are not running for president.”
Another baseless analogy peddled by Gatchalian concerns Filipino veterans who fought Japanese invaders during World War II, and who later obtained American citizenship. Once more, Gatchalian compares Poe to these veterans and concludes that Poe should not be faulted for turning her back earlier on the Philippines. Again, Robredo’s reply rebuts this analogy—unlike Poe, the war veterans are not running for president.
Gatchalian also cites Poe’s decision to give birth to her children in the Philippines, and implies that this act proves that Poe always considered the Philippines as her country. Of course, Gatchalian assumes that Filipinos are gullible enough to fall for his story. The act of giving birth in the Philippines is hardly a sufficient indication of one’s nationalism. Moreover, under the Constitution, a child born in the Philippines of alien parents is an alien. Obviously, the analogy cited by Gatchalian has no basis.
What should be the focus of Gatchalian’s explanations is the fact that Poe’s husband Neil Llamanzares is and remains an American citizen. According to Poe, her husband is willing to become a Filipino citizen once she is elected president. At first impression, Poe’s statement sounds nice. A careful evaluation of it, however, reveals that Mr. Llamanzares is not about to relinquish his American citizenship within the next several months prior to the May 2016 elections, and that Mr. Llamanzares will only think about this option if and only if he becomes the first gentleman of the Philippines. This is opportunism in its baldest form. It also dilutes any claim to nationalism Poe may have, even from the perspective of her devoted spokesman.
Robredo correctly points out that Poe must face the moral issue of her having previously renounced her Philippine citizenship to become an American citizen. Poe’s renunciation of her Philippine citizenship undoubtedly reveals that at one point in her life, Poe turned her back on the Philippines. Being so, how can Poe be entrusted with the highest office in the land if she once quit on the Philippines and the Filipino people? When the going gets tough, and it is bound to, will President Poe leave us once again?
Gatchalian and Moreno are two of the closest political associates of Poe to defend the senator, through legally untenable arguments, in the four disqualification cases currently pending against her before the Comelec.
Moreno has gone to the extent of attacking the motives of the four petitioners who filed the disqualification cases, notwithstanding that they acted within their rights as registered voters when they filed those cases. While Moreno claims that a person who stands to benefit from the disqualification of Poe is behind the cases, he refuses to identify the individual concerned. Poe’s vice presidential candidate, Senator Chiz Escudero, stands to benefit from Poe’s disqualification if he is elected with Poe and the latter is subsequently disqualified. Could Escudero be the individual Moreno has in mind?
In addition, Moreno adamantly insists that the disqualification issue against Poe should be settled by the voters themselves, on the premise that sovereignty resides in the people. Moreno’s suggestion sounds really populist alright, and that should be expected from a traditional politician like him. Still, Moreno’s suggestion is a culpable violation of the Constitution. As discussed in the previous column, the Constitution mandates that the President of the Philippines has to be a natural-born citizen of the country, and under a regime of popular sovereignty, constitutionalism, and the rule of law, the Constitution must be obeyed by both the government and by the sovereign Filipino people. What is the use of having a constitution if its provisions are ignored?
Moreno has revealed himself as a senatorial candidate who cannot tolerate registered voters who exercise their rights, and one who finds nothing wrong with violating the Constitution. This revelation should be enough reason why Moreno has no place in the Senate.
The same observations may be said of Gatchalian. Although his boss is not yet in power, Gatchalian already dishes out absurd and misleading statements in a clumsy attempt to change what cannot be changed, to undo what cannot be undone, and to use cosmetic arguments to conceal the truth from the Filipino people. In the unlikely event that Poe wins the presidential race, and in the further unlikelihood that Poe is not disqualified from office notwithstanding the fact that she is not a natural-born citizen of the Philippines, Gatchalian will probably be the spokesman of the Poe administration. If that nightmare does happen, the people should expect a daily dose of doubletalk and equivocal statements from the presidential spokesman.
If Poe knows what’s good for her campaign, she should replace her spokesman immediately. His replacement will also be a welcome relief for the public.