The Nationalist People’s Coalition continues to support presidential candidate Senator Grace Poe and the party thinks she can surmount the disqualification cases now pending before the Commission on Elections.
“We in the NPC continue to support Sen. Grace Poe in her quest for the presidency. We believe that the documentary evidence which her battery of lawyers have in their possession will bolster her qualifications as presidential candidate,” said Valenzuela City Congressman Win Gatchalian, who is running for senator under the ticket of Poe and running mate and fellow senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero.
The NPC is the second biggest political party in the country based on the number of incumbent congressmen, governors, and city mayors. The NPC party was established by businessman Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco in 1991 who ran for president in 1992.
Gatchalian said the NPC believes that the Comelec sitting as whole will see through the documentary evidence presented by the lawyers of Poe and will ultimately reverse the 2nd Division’s ruling and declare her eligible to run for president in 2016.
The Constitution requires candidates for president and vice president to have a residency of at least 10 years prior to the day of election. Senatorial candidates are only required to have a two-year residency.
Among the evidences reinforcing Poe’s 10-year residence is a questionnaire from the US Embassy in Manila, which Poe signed in 2011 after she renounced her American citizenship. In that questionnaire, Poe wrote that she transferred domicile in the Philippines on May 24, 2005 after she and her husband resigned from their US jobs, sold their house in the US, enrolled their two children in Manila schools, bought a lot and build their house which is now their residence.
“The NPC believes the Comelec en banc will heed jurisprudence and maintain its independence. The NPC believes the Comelec sitting as a whole will defend the will of the sovereign Filipino people as they choose a leader who will lead the nation to progressive development in which no Filipino will be left behind,” said Gatchalian. (R. Burgos)
