SC unloads baggage off Grace’s shoulders

By Alfredo C. Garvida Jr.

Contributor

The Supreme Court decision to reverse the earlier decision of the Comelec to disqualify Sen. Grace Poe-Llamanzares from running for president was not unexpected, given the nature of questioning SC Chief Justice Lourdes Sereno, were unleashing to the lady senator's protagonists during their oral arguments with the highest court early on.

As this column has earlier maintained, laws can be interpreted in different ways, their final interpretation rests solely on the highest court's discretion, nevertheless. In Ms. Llamanzares’ case, certain legal minds have wrestled on its merits in contrasting fashion, seemingly to no end, until the court's decision finally came out. Grace Poe-Llamanzares is thus now allowed to proceed in her campaign, drastically redefining as a result the landscape of the presidential race.

This writer has always thought that the citizenship issue was an easy task for Ms. Llamanzares’ lawyers to overcome vis-à-vis our belief that the residency issue would be a tall order for them to defeat, given the documented evidence presented pointing to her lacking in residency, as required by the Constitution. But as we said, laws can be interpreted in different ways, and it just happened that the Supreme Court's interpretation on Ms. Llamanzares’ case went to her favor.

It is, however, mystifying that the "oral" decision came out ahead of the written one, which has but triggered undue anxiety to the political pundits, especially those adversely affected by it. In our two-cents worth, however, we believe that the nine justices who voted for Ms. Llamanzares’ cause laid more their judgment on the political implications of the case rather than on the legal points needed to be considered.

For it would be the height of naiveté to even suppose that the nation's daily rhythm would remain normal had the SC's decision been otherwise. Grace Poe-Llamanzares topped the senatorial elections in 2013, despite her newness in the political mainstream. She is the daughter of the late Fernando Poe Jr., the iconic cinematic hero who is widely believed to have been the rightfully elected Philippine President in 2004 were not for widespread cheating by his rival, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who is now under detention for—what else—corruption. The lady senator has constantly led all presidential surveys, which means that she is—at the time, at least—the most preferred candidate by the people to become their next president. 

These matters were heavy for the justices to ignore without stoking the fire for a civil disturbance nationwide. After all, the respondents' (Comelec, et al.) issue against the lady senator on her citizenship was all based on assumption—without compelling evidence that she was not born here as Filipino. The issue of residency had to be more complicated because of her declaration on her senatorial certificate of candidacy in 2013 that glaringly points out that she would be lacking six months in residency on the presidential election day of 2016 if such declaration were taken at face value. But he said she made an honest mistake on her certificate of candidacy declaration and substantiated her argument with documentary evidence, which the highest court gave credence to.

So now, Grace Poe-Llamanzares’ path to her dream to take the seat that her late father was unduly deprived of is now as clear as the unending traffic gridlock in Metro Manila, an issue that this writer believes shoot off the lady senator's popularity among the masses. She is a political neophyte indeed, but she comes into the voters' perception as clean, intelligent, hardworking and well-meant leader. The ongoing political discourse is so nasty, but the barrel of dirt aimed otherwise at Grace is empty—simply because there is no dirt to cast against her.

It will be a mystery if the next presidential survey does not raise Senator Poe-Llamanzares’ popularity even further up among the voters. At this point, barring unforeseen scenarios, we have to believe that she is the candidate to beat in the presidential race. Vice President Jejomar Binay, despite all the mud thrown at him and his family, remains firmly in contention, which only means that the people are more interested on the issue of poverty alleviation—which Mr. Binay's campaign is mainly anchored on—than corruption. We are appalled why Secretary Mar Roxas' numbers are not moving despite President Noynoy Aquino's assertive endorsement of him and despite the fact that the man is clean, intelligent, experienced and amiable. He is sold as Mr. Nice Guy by his handlers to the voters, yet, they are not buying. Mayor Rody Duterte is still threatening, in fact, he is viewed as statistically tied with Ms. Llamanzares and Mr. Binay, per the last survey. But will his untamed rhetoric be enough to catapult him to the presidency? Or will it be his Waterloo in the end?

These questions will continue to boggle the electors' mind, but what is clear now is the fact that Grace Poe-Llamanzares, the consistent leader in the presidential race, carries no baggage anymore in her campaign.