SENATOR Grace Poe may have to push back plans, if any, of running for higher position in 2016 because she failed to meet the residency requirement under the 1987 Constitution, a lawmaker allied with Vice President Jejomar Binay said Tuesday.
Article 7 Section 2 of the Constitution requires that a candidate for president and vice president should have been a resident of the Philippines for at least 10 years "immediately preceding such election."
Showing a copy of Poe's supposed certificate of candidacy for the 2013 midterm elections, Navotas City Representative Toby Tiangco said in a press briefing that the senator's period of residency in the Philippines at the time was six years and six months.
By May 2016, Poe would have been a resident of the country for only nine years and six months.
(Video by John Carlo Cahinhinan/Sunnex)
“Ang sinasabi lang naman namin dito, sa ngayon, ay hindi siya kuwalipikado dito sa 2016. Maaring sa 2022 (presidential elections) ay kuwalipikado siya. Pero yung 2016 by her own declaration sa sarili niyang sinumpaang salaysay, ito na mismo ang nagsasabi na hindi siya kuwalipikado sa 2016,” said Tiangco, interim president of Binay-led United Nationalist Alliance (UNA).
Tiangco dismissed the possibility that he got a fake document since the candidacy paper filed by Poe in 2013 was “a sworn affidavit.”
“This is a sworn affidavit. Ito ay sinumpaang salaysay. Ito po ay notaryado, kaya po kung ano ang sinulat niya dito, ito dapat ang katotohanan. If this is fake, barilin ninyo ako dito," he said.
The UNA official lashed back at Poe following her statement that she will not be running with Binay as they differ with regard to “honesty and being open to the public.”
Poe is one of the 10 senators who signed the draft Senate blue ribbon subcommittee report recommending plunder charges against Binay for the alleged overpriced Makati City Hall Building 2.
"Kung napakahalaga sa kanya ng salitang honesty, why isn't she honest enough to tell us she's not qualified? Bakit di niya pinagtatapat sa atin na di siya pwede, kwalipikado na tumakbong presidente or bise presidente? Yan ba ang pagiging tapat?" Tiangco said.
Tiangco said he took it upon himself to expose Poe's residency record even though Binay asked the party not to release the information because of his friendship with the senator.
Binay was the campaign manager of Poe's father, the late movie actor Fernando Poe Jr., in the 2004 presidential elections.
“The Vice President is very polite. Nung sinabi ko ito (issue of residency) sa kanya, sabi niya, pabayaan mo nang manggaling sa iba yan,” Tiangco said.
Poe has yet to respond to UNA's claim.
But in an advisory, Poe's office said she will be fielding questions from the media before the start of the Senate session on Wednesday afternoon. (Sunnex)