Two weeks ago, an organization called the ALL4GP Movement placed a half-page advertisement in another newspaper urging the Supreme Court to disobey the Constitution by allowing Senator Grace Poe to run for president in the May 2016 polls. It was an obvious call for disobedience because, as the Commission on Elections ruled, Poe is not a natural-born citizen of the Philippines. Under the Constitution, only natural-born Filipinos may be elected president of the Philippines.
The advertisement was prepared in a hurry, as seen in the glaring clerical error in it—“jutices,” said the advertisement, instead of “justices.” It also cited a dissenting opinion of a commissioner of the Comelec, which was favorable to Poe’s case, without identifying it as a dissenting opinion. Likewise, the advertisement cited the ruling of the Senate Electoral Tribunal as if the said ruling had become final and executory. A photograph of Poe appears on the left side of the advertisement, and a faint image of the late film actor Fernando Poe Jr. appears beside her.
If the arguments in that paid advertisement are based on legal grounds, then they should be raised before the Supreme Court, and not in an advertisement designed to appeal to emotion, rather than to the rule of law. Urging the justices of the Supreme Court to disobey the Constitution by allowing Poe to run for president is objectionable enough. Coming out with a newspaper advertisement urging the guardians of the Constitution to disobey the charter is worse.
Last Dec. 21, ALL4GP published a second paid advertisement in another newspaper. This time, the advertisement quoted President Benigno Aquino III, ex-President Fidel Ramos, and House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte. Their remarks reiterated the organization’s previous call to let the people decide Poe’s political fate.
Ex-Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban was quoted again, to the effect that when there is a doubt involving elections, the doubt should be resolved in favor of letting the people decide through the ballot. It was a repetition of what he said in the previous advertisement.
The advertisement also quoted Representatives Win Gatchalian, Neri Colmenares, Samuel Pagdilao and Roman Romulo. They were supposed to have said substantially the same thing Aquino, Ramos, Belmonte, and Panganiban said, but with the additional remark that “the sentiment of the people” is to allow Poe to run in the elections.
Like the first advertisement, this one ends with a call on the justices of the Supreme Court to disobey the Constitution by allowing Poe to run for president. Unlike the previous advertisement, this one spelled the word “justices” correctly.
As repeatedly discussed in the past, and as history teaches, “letting the people decide” is a dangerous recourse. The 1973 Constitution, that charter which President Aquino and his political dynasty hate, was deemed ratified in a manner outside of what was required under the 1935 Constitution, the charter then in force. Look what happened after that.
What is the use of a Constitution if it can be violated indiscriminately, or to accommodate a popular candidate? A violation of the Constitution is disobedience to the fundamental law of the land plain and simple, regardless of whoever violates it.
The representatives quoted in the advertisement say that the sentiment of the people is to let Poe run for president. Really? What is their authority to make such a sweeping, self-serving statement?
It seems like the representatives overlooked that the Constitution is the most articulate voice of the people, as indicated in its opening statement—“We the sovereign Filipino people …” Unlike laws enacted by Congress, the Constitution was ratified by the people. The same Constitution mandates the disqualification of Poe from the presidential derby.
What about the rest of the Filipino people who, unlike Poe and her hacks, want to uphold the Constitution? Shouldn’t their sentiment count as well? Between a small group calling for a violation of the Constitution, and a larger collective of people urging that the Constitution be obeyed, the Supreme Court, as guardians of the charter, should side with the ones calling for the supremacy of the Constitution.
The number of votes Poe got in the 2013 senatorial elections is not a sufficient basis for the claim that the people’s sentiment is on her side. Landing first place in a Senate race is not automatically a mandate for the presidency. A voter may want a candidate to serve as senator, but it does not follow that the voter will also want that candidate to serve as president, or even as vice president. For instance, Senator Loren Legarda, a repeated topnotcher in the senatorial elections, was defeated in her two-time quest for the vice presidency.
The quote attributed to the representatives says, “… it amazes us that everyone is so concern for Senator Grace Poe’s situation …” If the representatives were quoted accurately, then they should take remedial lessons in English prior to the campaign, because the word “concern” should be “concerned.” Representative Romulo should scold ALL4GP considering that he is known to speak English fluently, and considering that he is a member of the Board of Regents of the University of the Philippines, the premiere university of the country.
Poe herself is supposed to be the last person to allow a violation of the Constitution. When Poe assumed public office, first as chairman of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board, and later as a senator, Poe took an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Now, Poe wants to violate the same Constitution she took an oath to support and defend.
Truth to tell, Poe cannot deny that she has nothing to do with the ALL4GP advertisements. If Poe is true to her oath, then she should tell her supporters to stop their public call for disobedience to the Constitution. If Poe, the senator, has no reservations about disobeying the Constitution, what is to stop Poe, the president, from violating the same Constitution whenever she wants to?