Downloaded from Davao Trending News
Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte accused some members of the Senate Electoral Tribunal of playing politics instead of sticking on the legalities of the case filed against Senator Grace Poe seeking to disqualify her from the presidential race on the grounds that she is not a “natural-born Filipino”.
In an interview Thursday evening, Duterte said that the five SET members who voted against Poe’s disqualification are all politicians and colleagues of Poe in the Senate, while three out of four who voted for her disqualification are justices.
Those who voted in favor of Poe were Senators Pia Cayetano, Loren Legarda, Cynthia Villar, Paolo Benigno Aquino IV, and Vicente Sotto III. Those who voted against Poe were Justices Antonio Carpio, Teresita Leonardo de Castro, and Arturo Brion. Senator Nancy Binay also voted against Poe.
This, Duterte said, clearly shows that the senator members of the SET are clearly playing politics while the justices are basing their decision on the Philippine Constitution which clearly states that a presidential aspirant must be a “natural-born Filipino citizen”.
Duterte, a government prosecutor before joining politics, said that the international treaty that states that foundlings are “deemed to be citizens” of the country where they are found could not amend the Philippine Constitution which clearly mandates for the president to be a “natural-born Filipino citizen”.
Duterte said a “presumption of citizenship” does not mean that Poe is indeed a “natural-born” Filipina.
Duterte however clarified that he has nothing against Poe whom he knows is a good person.
(Photos of Sen. Sotto, Legarda, Aquino, Villar and Cayetano downloaded from Google.)
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