Los Angeles—Despite the cold winter winds and chilling weather, scores of brave Filipino-American leaders of the Grace Poe Movement rallied in front of the Philippine Consulate General in Los Angeles to protest the Comelec’s exclusion of Senator Grace Poe.
Jun Caringal, GPM North Canada lead convenor, said, “The Aquino-Roxas political maneuver is for the candidate of the administration to have no competitor for the presidency and win by default.”
In a statement, the Fil-Am leaders said: “We vehemently protest this apparent anti-FilAm bias against Grace Poe. It seems the Aquino administration is only after our remittances. More than 50 precent of the $20-billion remittances made by Overseas Filipino Workers come from the United States.”
On the other hand, the Aquino-Roxas and the Comelec wanted to prevent a fellow Fil-Am from running in the highest position in the land. “A very clear anti Fil-Am Bias which must be stopped, ” Caringal said.
Art Garcia, also of the GPM-USA, said, “This will be the first time in the history of electoral politics in the Philippines that the Comelec is out to disqualify a candidate like Senator Grace Poe who is not a nuisance candidate but has been duly elected in 2013 with close to 21 million votes.”
Veteran newsman Larry Pelayo said, “ We honestly ask and wonder why is it the Comelec is running after Poe when they barely touch other nuisance candidates? Therefore, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte should watch out and also Vice-President Binay against the Aquino-Roxas demolition job with the use of the Comelec as the stamp pad.”
Dr. Veronico Agatep added, “ The Comelec acted in undue haste and abused its discretion. It is now left for the Supreme Court to correct the abuses of the Comelec.”
It is very clear that the Comelec is encroaching on the high court acting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal’s jurisdiction in disqualifying candidates on the merits of their residency and citizenship.
After the protest, the rallyist enjoyed coffee and tea at a nearby coffee shop. A relief from strong and chilling December winds.