JUNE 3 (Eagle News) — Senator Grace Poe answered critics questioning her citizenship, saying she was fit to run for the presidency and that she was a Filipino citizen and had been a Philippine resident for the last 10 years.
“Hindi po totoo na hindi ako kwalipikado. Kwalipikado po ako pero hindi pa po ako kandidato,” Poe told reporters in the Senate. (It is not true that I am not qualified. I am qualified, but I am not yet a candidate.)
Poe said that she had been in the country since 2005, debunking allegations from Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) that she lacked the required 10-year residency period for her to qualify for the presidency.
The senator said she pities Vice-President Jejomar Binay for his camp’s desperation in trying to discredit all possible rivals for the presidential bid.
She recalled that her father, the late actor Fernando Poe Jr., was also the target of such attacks when he decided to run for the presidency.
Poe said that she expects such demolition jobs to further intensify as the date of filing of certificate of candidacy nears.