PRESIDENTIAL candidate Grace Poe and vice presidential bet Chiz Escudero will kick off their proclamation rally in Plaza Miranda in Quiapo, Manila, on Tuesday next week, their spokesman said Friday.
Valenzuela City Mayor Rex Gatchalian said the two senators, both independent candidates, chose Plaza Miranda for its “historical significance” and for being the place where Poe goes regularly to pray.
“As she embarks on a very important milestone in her life, she will again seek guidance from our Lord God,” Gatchalian said.
He made his statement even as Escudero slammed the lawyer of one of the petitioners in the disqualification case against Poe, a foundling, for saying Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno had a misplaced sympathy for foundlings.
He told Manuel Luna, a lawyer of former senator Francisco Tatad, to “get a better grasp of the finer tenets of the law in administering equity and equality.”
“Has he [Luna] ever heard of ‘equity is equality in law’? That equity should grant relief to persons who are going through hardships which are not of their doing,” Escudero said.
Meanwhile, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago and her running mate, Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr., have chosen Batac, Ilocos Sur, as the venue for their proclamation rally on Tuesday.
Batac is the hometown of Marcos who is running under the Nacionalista Party. Santiago is seeking the presidency under her People’s Reform Party.
Gatchalian said Partido Galing at Puso was thankful to the city government of Manila for allowing the coalition to hold its proclamation rally in Plaza Miranda.
GP campaign manager Cebu Ace Durano said he was excited about the rally in Plaza Miranda.
The Supreme Court has yet to decide on the disqualification cases against Poe over her citizenship and her alleged lack of the 10-year residency requirement. The petitioners insist Poe is not a natural-born Filipino citizen and not qualified to run for president.
The Commission on Elections canceled Poe’s Certificate of Candidacy for president but Poe petitioned the Supreme Court to reject the poll body’s ruling.
The Senate Electoral Tribunal dumped a separate disqualification case against Poe but petitioner Rizalito David appealed the decision before the Supreme Court.