The call of Liberal Party’s Caloocan Rep. Edgar Erice for Sen. Grace Poe to be more transparent on the issue of her residency in the Philippines signals the drawing of the line between Poe and the Liberal Party’s presidential bet, Interior Secretary Mar Roxas.
Erice was quoted as saying that he believes that the lady senator, whose surging popularity makes her the frontrunner in the 2016 presidential elections, is a natural born Filipino citizen and should have no problem with the Constitutional requirement of citizenship for the presidency.
Erice said it’s in the requirement of a 10-year residency immediately preceding before the election that it’s not clear whether Poe is qualified or not. “”Si Senator Poe is a natural born Filipino, wala dapat mag-question doon. But I think Senator Grace should be more transparent as far as accusation she’s been using US passport 2006, 2007, 2009, according to former Senator Tatad,” the LP congressman said.
Erice sounded like United Nationalist Alliance interim president and Navotas City Rep. Toby Tiangco who first exposed the issue of Poe’s residency after the lady senator turned down Vice President Jejomar Binay’s offer for her to be his running mate.
Roxas also wanted Poe to be his running mate but the latter also declined.
The message behind Erice’s statement is: “Don’t run now. Do it in 2022 when you have met the residency requirement.”
Or to be more blatant about it, Erice is telling Grace, “ Don’t run against our candidate, Mar Roxas.”
LP is worried because indications are getting clearer that Poe might run for president as an independent with Sen. Chiz Escudero as vice president.
Sources said a number of businessmen, known to be sources of election campaign funds are encouraging Poe to run.
The popular Poe running as president has rendered askew the plans of the Liberal Party for Roxas in 2016.
LP leaders thought that Binay, who defeated Roxas in the 2010 vice presidential race, was the only block to Roxas’ finally making it to Malacañang in 2016 after he gave up that dream in 2010 in favor of Aquino.
LP thought they succeeded in getting rid of Binay as a contender in the 2016 race after the Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee investigation on the allegedly overpriced Makati Parking Building 2 led to more exposes of the Binay’s unexplained wealth.
Binay and his son, Makati Mayor Junjun Binay are facing plunder charges before the Ombudsman. It is expected that the charges would be filed before the Sandiganbayan soon which could lead to possible detention of the vice president. His wife, former Makati Mayor Elenita Binay, is also facing graft charges.
While Binay’s rating continues to decline, Poe’s soars. Roxas, meanwhile, remains among the cellar dwellers.
The entry of Poe in the presidential race gives Aquino a choice to endorse a candidate with better chance of winning in the 2016 elections to protect him once he is out of Malacañang.
Supporters of Roxas say that Aquino has been known not to abandon a friend in difficult times. But political observers point out, “Is Mar among those considered by Aquino as ‘close friend’?’’
Roxas is not a Ronnie Puno or an Alan Purisima. He was not even taken into confidence by Aquino in the Mamasapano operation.
After failing to bring Poe in to their fold to contain her political surge, The Liberal Party is now joining UNA’s efforts to disqualify her.
A sign of desperation.
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Last Monday I wrote that the difficulty of Binay to get persons he is eyeing as running mate to accept his offer does not augur well for his presidential bid.
But, even if Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada declined Binay’s offer for him to be his running mate in the 2016 elections, the latter can still retain the team title that he coined: BEST (Binay-Estrada).
Binay can get Sen. Jinggoy Estrada who has been charged with plunder for his misuse of his Priority Development Assistance Fund and is currently in detention as his running mate. That would still be BEST.
Last Monday on the sidelines during the hearing of his plunder case, Sen. Estrada was asked if he would be open to run as vice president to Binay. His answer, “Why not?”
There’s Binay’s BEST.
Grace Poe is heavily indebted to Aquino which was manifested in her handling of Mamasapano inquiry so my bet is Aquino will endorse Poe. Poe will not win as Bong Bong Marcos seems is showing excelent leadership, diplomacy, courage and and above intelectual ability in the disection of BBL. Marcos is destined to win….
whoever wins the top post, IISA la’ang ang tanong ko:
WILL THE CABINET BE FILLED WITH PEOPLE SAME LIKE THAT OF AQUINO’S?
kaibigan, kabarilan, kalaro, kamag-aral?
how will the elected president treat a cabinet member when he/she shall be involved in any controversy that may hound his/her performance? is he/she going to be shielded by the chief executive and arrogantly slap in the face of the people that his confidence and trust in the concerned are still intact despite any allegations?
itinanong ko na ‘yan kay DILG secretary mar roxas sakaling ituloy niya ang pagtakbo at palaring manalo pero bising bisi ‘ata ang kanyang administrator sa bulto ng mga emails and concern na tinatanggap.
ellen, here’s my concern since before the 2010 presidential election when yours truly was not able to vote dahil nasa riyadh ako noong mga panahong ‘yun at hindi pinayagan ng embassy na makaboto sapagkat ang place of registration ko as an OAV ay sa jeddah. please allow me to post it here in the hope na mapansin naman ng mga taga-comolect, este comelec.
Am writing this on behalf of my fellow registered OAV here in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia especially those like me are employed with construction companies having projects all over the country. We are obliged to follow orders when our services are needed and transferred to projects in areas other than our respective places of voting registration not only for weeks or months but most of the time counting to years making us not able to choose and vote whoever we feel and believe are qualified to be elected.
Am appealing, in this regard that each of us be allowed to vote where we are assigned during election period. After all, we are already registered as voters bringing with us identifications issued by the Comelec and it is unwise to suppose that any one among us will travel from one place to another within the kingdom just to vote a number of times for a chosen candidate.
We were already granted the privilege to exercise our right and I think it will not be too much if concerned authorities would allow us to enjoy this right during and when circumstances as above arise.
Please be informed that same request had been sent several times to our foreign mission offices here in Jeddah and Riyadh and they promised to refer the matter to the Comelec but I feel up to this time NO action had been taken.
I’ll try to relay your concern/message to Comelec, MR.
The friendly fire received by Grace Poe was released early on and in volume by former self-proclaimed anti-Binay resident members of a couple of leading blogs online. In fact, both the residency and the citizenship eligibility issues Poe faces were extensively researched at these blogs including her infamous senatorial certificate of candidacy sworn info before the Binay camp publicly attacked her with it. The backlash against the Binays induced their camp to stop apologize for their attacks for now, but why should they take further risk when that work is carried on by their unwitting minions and allies in the blogosphere? Apparently these bloggers are driven by the same motivation you cite for Erice’s behavior in your piece and are unfazed neither by backlash nor shame in undermining Poe’s candidacy in order to promote their own personal picks. I suppose there is nothing wrong in criticizing Poe, who may not even run,but this friendly fire
and were it comes from should also be subject to scrutiny and criticism. The potential calamitous irony of it all is that in bring Poe’s chances at the poll down, they and the Erices of the LP world may end up ensuring a Binay victory at the 2016 polls.
Eh di para siyang si Binay na nagtraidor kay Mercado. sabi ng comelec OK daw si POE na kumandidato. how about sa SC ?
ang SC ay matindi mag-twist ng Batas.
di ba dapat natural born sa Pinas. where is the original birth certificate. do not say nasa Jaro church sa Iloilo.
#5. salamat, ellen.
this is not for me but for our kababayans whose rights are being robbed by those manipulators dealing with greedy politicians salivating for the power and influence the office they are running stands for. i firmly say here that happened in 2004 when then not duly elected president gloria arroyo emerged winner RIGHT after power was restored in the philippine consulate area hours preceeding the suspicious brownout during the time of canvassing.
if no one would initiate action i fear of same incident happening in the next election. others may not mind learning their lesson but what matters here most is the future of the coming generations.
nasa huling mga baitang na ako ng hagdan ng buhay, ito man lamang ay maiambag ko para sa inyong kapakanan.
muli, maraming salamat.
How about Manny Villar and his Nacionalista Party? He failed to be king, but with his national machinery and money, he could be king-maker this time.
Running as independent may be ideal, but in the Phil.’s case, it is a difficult to safeguard your ballots and ensure those tricky PCOS machines really turn out the real count absent a nationwide network of watchers and supervisors without being indebted to several businessmen with their own personal motives tearing Poe apart in every direction.
Lesser cooks in the kitchen, the better the menu.