THE camp of Senator Grace Poe made it very clear Tuesday night that her quest for the presidency will continue despite an earlier decision of the Commission on Elections 2nd Division to disqualify her on the ground of her supposed failure to satisfy the 10-year residency requirement and over her questionable citizenship.
Valenzuela City Mayor Rex Gatchalian, Grace’s campaign spokesman also categorically declared that their camp does not have the so-called “Plan B” for Poe’s presidential campaign.
Gatchalian was reacting to queries on their alternative plan as insisted by some quarters in the event that the lady lawmaker is eventually dropped from the presidentiables’ roll.
“Why would we have a Plan B? We’re getting ahead of ourselves. We’re putting the cart before the horse. This is the first part of the process,” Gatchalian said adding that they will exhaust all legal remedies to appeal the decision.
The mayor is confident that the Comelec sitting en banc will eventually rule in their favour noting there are seven commissioners and collectively, the majority of those will see the merits in their position. “Our position is grounded in laws and we are confident that it will sustain,” he pointed out.
Many political observers including myself believe that what happened to Poe was part of a grand scheme by some quarters e specially those from the opposing camps to block her march towards the presidency.
Poe a consistent survey frontrunner is viewed as the biggest stumbling block for many who have cast their eyes on the presidency, which is why they are moving heaven and earth just to prevent her from running.
Personally, I believe that the ruling of the Comelec 2nd Division was unfortunate as it would deprive the people their inherent right to choose their rightful leader in a fair, honest and legitimate election process.
The more prudent thing to do is to allow Poe to run along with other candidates and let the people choose who they think would best lead them in the next six years.
One thing going, however, for Poe in this unfolding drama is that the people are firmly behind her and she can still exhaust all legal remedies until she is eventually cleared to run.
After all, there is a saying “vox populi, vox dei” and in any democracy, it should be the voice of the people that should prevail because all power emanate from them. OPEN LINE/BOBBY RICOHERMOSO
