INDEPENDENT presidential candidate Grace Poe said Wednesday the assertion of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno that the country’s adoption laws recognize foundlings as Filipino citizens shows compassion to foundlings like her.
“It conveys the message that there are laws and jurisprudence that foundlings can rely on in pursuing their case,” Poe said.
She said Sereno’s legal emphasis on foundlings bolsters her assertion that she is a natural-born citizen and qualified to run for president in this year’s elections.
“This certainly buoys up the argument raised by my lawyer during the oral argument,” said Poe whose disqualification on the questions over her citizenship brought on by her detractors remains pending before the Supreme Court.
The Commission on Elections canceled Poe’s Certificate of Candidacy for president after it decided she is not a natural-born citizen.
During the Supreme Court’s oral arguments on Poe’s disqualification cases, Sereno said the country’s adoption laws recognize foundlings or children with no known parents as Filipino citizens.
Reacting to the Comelec’s moving of the printing of the ballots to Feb. 8 from Feb. 1, Poe said the poll body was working within a realistic time line.
“We should let them do their job,” said Poe whose name was included by the Comelec in its initial draft of the list of candidate to the elections.
“What stands right now is the Supreme Court’s TRO on the cancellation of my Certificate of Candidacy, and this means that I remain a candidate,” Poe said.
“Without the lifting of the TRO, my name remains in the ballot.”
