Tag Archives: Grace Poe

Government, Law Enforcement, Politics

Philippine Elections Commissioners Resign En Banc

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imageMANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles) – In Japan, elected political leaders –prime ministers  included — step down when they cause an embarrassment to their country. In the Philippines, appointed government officials resign en banc.

Minutes  after the Supreme Court  issued temporary restraining orders (TRO)  on two Commission on Elections (COMELEC) rulings disqualifying Senator Grace Poe from next year’s presidential election, the commissioners tendered their simultaneous resignations. They could not bear the embarrassment handed to them by the highest court of the land.

As a result of the TROs, Poe’s name would remain in the 2016 ballot.

Last week, the COMELEC, sitting en banc, issued a ruling disqualifying Poe on citizenship and residency grounds. Earlier, two divisions of the electoral body issued similar rulings.

The COMELEC was widely criticized for issung the ruling at a time when the Supreme Court was on holiday recess, making it almost impossible for Poe to file a petition for TRO before  the 5-day period within which the senator could do so before the order becomes final and executable.

COMELEC was also accused of partisanship by favoring the Aquino administration’s anointed presidential candidate, former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas.

Because of the mass resignations of the commissioners, the 2016 presidential elections in May could be postponed indefinitely, virtually extending the current term of President Aquino.

Brilliant planning by the Aquino administration that should warrant a Japanese-style resignation?

Stay tuned!

 

Beauty, Politics

SENATOR GRACE POE EYEING PIA ALONZO WURTZBACH AS SUBSTITUTE IF DISQUALIFIED TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT

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imageMANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles) – Two divisions of the Philippines’ Commission on Elections (COMELEC) have already issued rulings disqualifying Senator Grace Poe from running for president in the 2016 elections due to questions about her citizenship and residency status.  The COMELEC en banc still needs to issue its own ruling and chances are this case could be appealed to the Supreme Court.

Poe, and her vice presidential running mate Senator Chiz Escudero are preparing for the worst.

In the event that Poe is disqualified, the senator already has her pick for a substitute candidate: newly-crowned Miss Universe Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach.

In Philippine politics, popularity and name recognition could spell victory for any poliltical candidate.  That’s why presidents, senators, congressmen, and mayors have popular celebrities among their ranks — boxers, basketball players, film actors and actresses, journalists.

After winning the Miss Universe crown last Sunday, Wurtzbach is probably the most popular celebrity in the country today, more popular than boxing champion Manny Pacquiao, a congressman who is running for senator in 2016.

Although Wurtzbach was born in Stuttgart, Germany (her father is German), she is considered a natural-born Filipino in accordance with the Philippine Constitution because her mother is a Filipino citizen. So birthers will not have any valid case to disqualify Wurtzbach on citizenship grounds.

The Philippines adheres to Jus sanguinis (right of blood) which is the legal principle that, at birth, an individual acquires the nationality of his/her natural parent/s.

Watch for the big headline next summer: “Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach Is Crowned Philippine President!”

 

International, Politics

OBAMA TO PHILIPPINE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE GRACE POE: ‘I FEEL YOU!’

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imagePARIS, France (The Adobo Chronicles) – U.S. President Barack Obama has finally broken his silence over the Philippine presidential race that’s turning out to be the most controversial ever in the political  history of the former American colony.

Speaking to reporters in Paris where he is attending a world summit on climate change, Obama said, ‘I have been informed that a division of the Commision on Elections has ruled to disqualify Senator Grace Poe from running for president on citizenship grounds. The popular senator and frontrunner in national polls is a foundling and is facing several disqialification complaints claiming she is not a natural-born citizen.  Like in the U.S., only natural-born cirtizens can run for president.

‘I feel you,’ Obama said about Poe, ‘because I have been in the same boat.’

Througout his presidential career, Obama has been dodged with accusations that he was born outside of the U.S., despite having released copies of his Hawaii birth certificate.

“I know the truth will eventually prevail, and that those who seek to discredit you will realize that they are making a huge mistake.’

Upon hearing of Obama’a comments, Republican presidential candidate and frontrunner Donald Trump, a known birther, instructed his campaign staff to look into the cases against Poe so that he can make his own statement about the Philippine presidential race.

‘As a candidate for president, I have to show my supporters and the American voters that I have the capacity and commitment  to deal with foreign affairs, especially if it involves the birther issue,’ Trump said. ‘If Poe cannot show proof she was born in the Philippines, I will personally oppose her candidacy as well.  If I am president of the United States, there can only be one American president.’ (Poe’s opponents are also claiming that by virtue of her dual citizenship, she is an American citizen.)