Aquino chooses Roxas as candidate for Philippine presidential election in 2016

Published July 31, 2015

Associated Press

MANILA, Philippines Philippine President Benigno Aquino III has chosen Interior Secretary Manuel "Mar" Roxas II as the
administration candidate to succeed him in elections next year.
Aquino made the announcement Friday in the same meeting hall where Roxas declared six years ago that he was shelving his own
presidential ambition to give way to the son of the late democracy icon Corazon Aquino.
The 58-year-old former legislator says he was honored to be endorsed by Aquino as the standard bearer of the dominant Liberal Party.
The grandson and namesake of the Philippines' first post-World War II president promises to continue on the "straight path," Aquino's
program to fight poverty and corruption in this Southeast Asian nation of 100 million.
Roxas lost as Aquino's running mate in the 2010 vice presidential race.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/07/31/aquino-chooses-roxas-as-candidate-for-philippine-presidential-election-in-2016/
Grace Poes citizenship
By: Artemio V. Panganiban
@inquirerdotnet
Philippine Daily Inquirer
12:53 AM June 14th, 2015
CRITICS CHALLENGE the citizenship qualifications of Sen. Grace Poe to run for, be elected to and hold a higher public
office allegedly because 1) as a foundling, she was stateless, 2) by her marriage, she acquired the American
citizenship of her husband, and 3) her adoption by Fernando Poe Jr. and Susan Roces did not confer natural-born
citizenship on her. I respectfully disagree.
Natural-born citizen. Under our 1987 Constitution, [n]o person may be elected President [or Vice-President or Senator
or Congressman] unless he [or she] is a natural-born citizen of the Philippines
In turn, [n]atural-born citizens are those who are citizens of the Philippines from birth without having to perform any
act to acquire or perfect their Philippine citizenship.
Since the Constitution requires natural-born citizenship from birth and since Senator Poe was born in 1968, the
governing law would be the 1935 Constitution. Neither that Charter nor any statute as of that year expressly conferred
citizenship on foundlings.
However, the framers of the 1935 Constitution explained that expressly providing citizenship rules for foundlings was
unnecessary since that could be determined from international law. Note that under the same Charter (and also under
the present one), the Philippines adopts the generally accepted principles of international law as part of the law of
the Nation.
Applicable international law. Mijares vs Ranada (April 12, 2005) held that generally accepted principles of
international law even if they [are] not derived from treaty obligations [have] two elements: the established,

widespread and consistent practice on the part of states; and a psychological element known as the opinio juris sive
necessitates (opinion as to law or necessity) a belief that the practice in question is rendered obligatory by the
existence of a rule of law requiring it.
Under Art. 2 of the 1961 International Convention on Statelessness, [a] foundling found in the territory of a
Contracting State shall, in the absence of proof to the contrary, be considered to have been born within the territory of
parents possessing the nationality of that State.
Applying that article to Senator Poe, a foundling found in the Philippines is presumed, in the absence of contrary proof,
to have Filipino biological parents. Since she was found near a church in Jaro, Iloilo, when she was only a few days old,
her parents are presumed to be Filipinos.
Therefore, she is a natural-born citizen.
True, the Philippines is not a signatory or a Contracting State in this treaty. However, the treaty possesses the two
elements of a generally accepted principle of international law because the grant of nationality to a foundling is an
established, widespread and consistent practice of many states since 1961 to the present. Hence, it is deemed a
part of the law of the Nation.
According to Razon vs Taglis (Dec. 3, 2009), this widespread practice or international custom could be shown from
State practice, State legislation, international and national judicial decisions, recitals in treaties and other
international instruments, a pattern of treaties in the same form, the practice of international organs, and resolutions
relating to legal questions in the UN General Assembly.
Further, under the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), to which the Philippines is a signatory and
which our Supreme Court has consistently enforced, Everyone has a right to a nationality. Thus, a denial of
nationality or citizenship to Senator Poe would be a plain violation of the UDHR.
Parenthetically, it is high time the Philippines acceded to and joined the 1961 Convention on Statelessness for the
benefit of all Filipinos, especially illegitimate children whose parents are unknown, not just of Senator Poe. After all, it is
not their fault that their parents have abandoned them.
American citizenship and adoption. True, she acquired American citizenship after she married her American husband.
But she already renounced such citizenship in accordance with American law. And the American Embassy has affirmed
such renunciation.
This affirmation is important because under the 1930 Hague Convention on the Conflict of Nationality Laws, [i]t is for
each State to determine under its own law who are its nationals. Thus, American, not Philippine, law determines who
are American citizens.
True also, our Supreme Court has ruled several times that adoption does not confer citizenship. It only gives the
adopted child the civil rights of a legitimate child, like the right to use the surname of and to inherit from the adoptive
parents.
In my humble opinion, these rulings do not apply to foundlings. They were issued by our Court to prevent aliens from
short-circuiting our strict naturalization rules by undergoing the easier adult adoption processes.
However, I will no longer dwell on this issue because Senator Poe does not derive her natural-born citizenship from her
adoption but from generally accepted principles of international law on the presumed citizenship of foundlings.

Her presumed citizenship can become indisputable if her paternity is established by deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)
evidence. Under existing jurisprudence starting with Tijing vs Court of Appeals (March 8, 2001) and People vs Vallejo
(May 2, 2002), a DNA test is a conclusive way of proving filiations.
I will take up Grace Poes residence qualification in another column.
http://opinion.inquirer.net/85819/grace-poes-citizenship
6 Reasons Why Jojo Binay could Win the 2016 Presidential Election
September 27, 2015 By Rig Man 5 Comments
First of all, Im not a supporter of Binay, Roxas or Poe the three who have already officially declared their presidential candidacies for
the coming 2016 elections. As of this day, Im still undecided as to whom my vote will go for the presidential poll. Im writing this article
to give some ideas, clues and updates about our countrys endeavor to elect the most deserving leader who will bring us to peace and
prosperity.

There are several Filipinos, especially the netizens, who think that Binay is already a certain loser in his bid to presidency because of
the many allegations of corruptions that are thrown against him. However, there are some facts and other information that they might
have overlooked. Here are 6 reasons why Jojo Binay could still win the 2016 presidential election:

1. More than half of the Filipinos cannot access the Internet.

There are only around 40 million Internet users in the Philippines. That is why no matter how many viral or trending memes, articles,
videos and other social media posts are there that present Jojo Binay as an unworthy president, these online messages cannot reach
the majority of the Filipinos not to mention that not all Internet users believe all those allegations of corruptions against Binay.

2. Many Filipinos still believe that hes innocent of corruption.

Binays new TV ad has not pleased a number of netizens and some of them have even called it disgusting. But in my opinion, the ad
isnt targeted to them. Its target audience are the poor who still believe in him and who watch television rather than access the Internet.
For Binays haters, the ad appears to be sickening, but for his supporters, his paawa TV ad might just pull the trigger to touch the
hearts of those who fully believe in him, as well as those who partly believe in him.

3. More than half of Filipinos consider themselves poor.

51% of Filipinos consider themselves poor and many of them wish to experience a life like in Makati. The city of Makati is known across
the Philippines as a place, where residents get free medical care while senior citizens receive free birthday cakes. For the poor Filipinos
who live in the provinces and who cannot even afford to buy a piece of cake, those enticing information could influence them to wish
that Binay will be the next president so that he could also do to the Philippines what he has done in Makati.

4. Binay has a strong local base.

Jojo Binay will not win the vice presidential race against Mar Roxas in 2010 if not his strong local base. In my own theory, the reason
why Roxas was appointed as secretary of DILG is for him to develop strength in the local arena and weaken Binay in that spot. But did
he succeed? With Roxas performance in handling the Yolanda and Zamboanga siege incidents, I dont think he has succeeded.

5. He has a big campaign fund.

I dont have any concrete or specific idea where Binay is getting the money for his presidential campaigns. But one thing is for sure it
is huge. His first TV ad has been aired as early as September 2014. And Binay is not stopping there. His new TV ad has been airing
toe-to-toe with Roxas TV ad in the prime-time shows, like Eat Bulaga. His Facebook Ad campaign is also one of the earliest Ive seen

on social media. Binays official Facebook Page has already more than 1.7 million likes as of today. He is already the second most liked
presidentiable on Facebook, next to Senator Mirriam Santiagos more than 3 million organic likes.

6. Hes the most relentless presidential candidate out there.

Vice President Binay is the most hardworking, prompt and relentless presidentiable when it comes to campaigning. In a report by
Rappler, Binays machinery for his presidential bid has already been running since he declared his plan to become the president of the
Philippines 5 years ago. He also stated that he has already travelled to three-fourths of the Philippines a feat which is already hard to
catch up by his rivals.

Final thoughts
Binay has already surprised many of us when he defeated Mar Roxas during the 2010 vice presidential poll. If he will win the 2016
presidential race, I wouldnt be surprised again. Grace Poes declaration to run for president is definitely a game changer. But we are
not yet sure how it will affect both Binays and Roxas chances in the poll results.

Former president and incumbent Mayor of Manila Joseph Estrada also have to announce yet who will get his support. Estrada, a
popular figure among the poor, can significantly increase the chance of Binay or Poe, or whoever will get his support.

And of course, let us not also forget other presidentiables, like Davao City Mayor Rody Duterte, Senator Miriam Santiago and Senator
Bongbong Marcos who could also change the game in the presidential race.

We still have more than seven months to think, study, analyze and finalize our votes. I hope that Filipinos will not make a mistake. Lets
not vote for a corrupt leader. Lets vote for a person of action, dedication and compassion.
http://faq.ph/reasons-why-jojo-binay-could-win-the-2016-presidential-election/

Miriam Santiago files COC for president

October 16, 2015 2:20pm
Tags: miriamdefensorsantiago, eleksyon2016, headline
By ROSE-AN JESSICA DIOQUINO, GMA News
Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago on Friday afternoon filed her certificate of candidacy for president just a few hours shy of the 5 p.m.
deadline.
It was only on Tuesday that Santiago declared her intention to run for president, saying she was doing so after winning her bout with
lung cancer.
It will be her third presidential run after finishing second to Fidel Ramos in 1992 and placing seventh in 1998.
Santiago will be running for president with Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as her vice presidential candidate.
In the news conference after she filed her COC, Santiago was asked how she could run with Marcos when she defied the senator's
father and namesake, the late former dictator, during the martial regime.
Santiago, as a regional trial court judge in the early 1980s, ordered the release of student-protesters who were detained without
warrants of arrest.
The senator said she was not backtracking from the decisions she made as an RTC judge during the martial law period.

Santiago said one of the memorable decisions she made was releasing students from the University of the Philippines and the Ateneo
de Manila University who were arrested at the time.
"You ask me, 'Do you still affirm the decision you made in court?' Yes, I do. I was correct... Truth is still truth, justice is still justice,"
Santiago said.
"I do not have to reconcile me as a trial judge [with my decision to run with Marcos]... Time has changed. Your opinions and ideologies
are different from those of your parents'. You always have to adjust to the times," she added.
Santiago said, "Life does not have to be a constant straight line from one end to another."
"At first I was one of the people who did not mind the imposition of Martial Law. In the first few years, there was much more order in the
streets, but eventually I think that Martial Law did not proceed as intended," Santiago said.
On running for president a third time, Santiago said, "The third time's always a charm." NB, GMA News
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/540911/news/miriam-santiago-files-coc-for-president#sthash.2QYX8PsJ.dpuf

Strange 2016 poll circus exposes weak PH parties

Even by Philippine standards, the 2016 presidential election brings a whole new level of weird
Ayee Macaraig
@ayeemacaraig
Published 8:15 AM, October 12, 2015
Updated 8:30 AM, October 13, 2015
'STRANGE ELECTIONS.' The contenders for the 2016 presidential and vice presidential race were chosen without a clear political party
mechanism. File photos
MANILA, Philippines Filipinos are no strangers to political oddities. They saw a convicted plunderer stage a comeback as mayor of the
capital. Necropolitics helped install the reluctant Benigno Aquino III as president. Strange bedfellows and the anomaly of so-called
guest candidates marked the previous senatorial polls.
(WATCH: Live: Filing of certificates of candidacy)
Even by Philippine standards, the 2016 presidential election brings a whole new level of weird. So dizzying are the political tandems,
non-tandems, and realignments that it took the son and namesake of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos to point out the obvious.
This is the strangest and most complicated election that I have ever come across in my long, long time in politics, said Senator
Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Jr. It has never been this complicated and with much variable.
Marcos' own candidacy is bizarre, contributing to the historic phenomenon of having more vice presidential bets than presidential
contenders. Half of them belong to one party but are running as independent. Days before the deadline of candidacies on October 16,
it is still unclear if it will be a 5-way presidential race, and a 6-cornered vice presidential contest.

The lack of a clear process for selecting and grooming leaders indicates a continuing decline of the Philippine political system where
personalities trump parties. Dynastic interests prevail, leaving it to surveys, money and ambition to determine who gets to run for public
office.
Disabuse your mind from thinking that there are political parties in the Philippines. Parties are merely coalitions of dynastic families with
command votes in their localities. If you really want to run, think of a name, register it, it's a party. Choosing a party is just like shopping
in Divisoria, said political analyst Earl Parreo of the Institute for Political and Electoral Reform (IPER).
Exhibit A is boxing champ Manny Pacquiao, who switched parties faster than he changed gloves. The Sarangani reprsentative shifted
from the Nacionalista Party (NP) to the ruling Liberal Party (LP), and the opposition United Nationalist Alliance(UNA). Now, all are
jostling to endorse his Senate bid.
Here are the main manifestations of the Philippines' circus-like, peculiar personality politics.

'HONORARY LP MEMBER.' An ally of President Aquino, Senator Grace Poe is running for president and attempts to distinguish herself
from the administration. File photo from Poe's Facebook page
1. No real choice, no clear difference
The Philippines has a multi-party system under the 1987 Constitution, failing to revive the pre-martial law two-party system. Parties are
prone to turncoatism and coalitions that transform from one election to the next. Dynasties and interests, not ideologies, bind them.
In 2016, voters complain of a lack of a real choice. The presidential contenders so far are former interior secretary Manuel Mar Roxas
II of the LP, opposition leader Vice President Jejomar Binay, and the party-less neophyte senator Grace Poe, the daughter of movie
icons.
With no clear programs, individual attributes are highlighted. Gladstone Cuarteros, assistant professor at the De La Salle University
(DLSU) political science department, said that the 2016 polls are not as interesting as the 2010 elections because the differences
among the candidates are not stark.
In 2010, Aquino campaigned on an anti-corruption platform known as tuwid na daan (straight path) after a tumultuous 9-year
presidency of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo marred by graft and electoral fraud controversies.
This time around, Poe and Roxas are both allied with the Aquino administration while Binay was part of the Cabinet for 5 years
before resigning in June.
The context in 2010 was ripe for a clearly drawn battle. Now, it's blurred because Grace Poe is also speaking of tuwid na daan. Mar is
also speaking of tuwid na daan, and Binay cannot really oppose tuwid na daan outright because he has to acknowledge there was
economic growth but the distribution is the problem, Cuarteros told Rappler.
Flaws offset candidates' strengths. A Makati mayor for 21 years, Binay is the most experienced candidate but faces a major corruption
scandal. Poe is seen as honest but spent only 5 years in government, with legal woes to surmount. Roxas is a technocratic Whartongraduate who held various portfolios but comes off as insincere and indecisive.
With the limited choices, voters are waiting for the potential last-minute declaration of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, credited for
peace and order but blamed for human rights abuses, and the cancer-stricken legal eagle Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago.

'STEPPING STONE.' Five senators are vying for higher office while halfway through their terms. The Senate is known as the 'stepping
stone' for the presidency.
2. Senators' convenience and VPs without partners
This election is unique for having the most number of vice presidential bets, forming half a Senate slate. There are 6: Poe's running
mate Senator Francis Escudero (independent), Camarines Sur Representative Leni Robredo (LP), Senator Gregorio Honasan II (UNA),
and senators Marcos, Alan Peter Cayetano and Antonio Trillanes IV (NP).
Escudero, Honasan, Cayetano and Trillanes have terms ending in 2019, and they can return to the Senate if they lose. The
arrangement makes it convenient for senators in the middle of their 6-year term to seek higher office while the chamber suffers from a
lack of quorum.
Running for a vice presidential position is much cheaper than a presidential campaign, IPER's Parreo said. Because senators know
they can go back, they do not have much risk. They don't have to spend much but they have the chance to go one rung higher.
There, too, is the aberration of Marcos, Cayetano and Trillanes running without a tandem. Trillanes made his own team-up by choosing
Poe, while Marcos andCayetano are both eager to partner with Duterte.
In a mature democracy, it is the presidential bet who chooses a partner who will support his or her program of government. This is not
always the case in the Philippines where the president and the vice president are elected separately.
The problem now is you have vice presidential bets selling themselves but in the end, it's the president who will choose. It's not
ideology based. It's what these vice presidential candidates could bring in votes and in image. Although there is no direct correlation
with the votes of the president and vice president, Parreo said.

SPLIT PARTY? Three NP senators are running against each other for vice president: Marcos (2nd from left), Trillanes (5th from left),
and Cayetano (rightmost). File photo from Marcos' Facebook page
3. One party, 3 VP bets
The NP of tycoon and former Senate President Manuel Villar Jr holds the infamous distinction of fielding 3 vice presidential aspirants.
Instead of holding a convention to select one candidate, the party will implement a free zone a term meaning candidates are on their
own, and members are free to choose who to support.
Senator Cynthia Villar said the Trillanes, Cayetano and Marcos candidacies show NP has a deep bench but it is actually a sign of the
party's weakness.
The NP cannot even discipline its own members. They are all very pragmatic politicians. [Manny] Villar as party president has not
exercised his powers also because he is a pragmatic politician. They just allow their members to run without a guidance on what to do,
and what platform to pursue, DLSU's Cuarteros said.
The 3 NP senators will count on their own support groups and machinery, not their party.

Trillanes has his Magdalo group of former rebels and soldiers. Cayetano has his dynastic clout in Taguig while Marcos is relying on his
father's loyalists, the so-called solid north vote of the Ilocos region, and his mother's bailiwick in Leyte.

PARTIDO PILIPINAS. Senators Grace Poe and Francis Escudero are running as independent candidates of a 'Partido Pilipinas.' Still,
they seek the support of political parties and partylist groups. File photo
4. 'Partido Pilipinas,' puso and hype
Poe and Escudero claim to be independent but are courting the support of donors, partylist groups, and political parties with no national
candidates: the NP, the Nationalist People's Coalition, and the National Unity Party.
Instead of joining a party, they proclaim to belong to Partido Pilipinas, (Party Philippines) and promote a 20-point agenda
of gobyernong may puso(government with a heart) in response to criticism of a callous, insensitive Aquino administration.
'Eh ano kung may puso? Gilas nga may puso eh, natalo pa rin. Kasi hindi lang naman puso ang kailangan mo diyan kundi
skill, experience.'
- Political analyst Gladstone Cuarteros on Poe and other candidates' emphasis on 'government with a heart'
It's all branding and hype, Parreo said. Grace Poe was an honorary LP member. When she didn't want to be vice president, she
formed 'Partido Pilipinas.' But what does it mean? What is its ideology? If you put her agenda side-by-side with that of the LP, NP and
UNA, it will come out to be the same, all motherhood statements.
Slogans are confused for platforms in the political discourse. Other UNA senatorial bets now echo the need for a government with
heart.
Cuarteros retorted: Eh ano kung may puso? Gilas nga may puso eh, natalo pa rin. Kasi hindi lang naman puso ang kailangan mo diyan
kundi skill, experience.
(So what if the candidate has heart? The Gilas Philippine basketball team had heart but still lost. Because you don't need just heart to
govern but also skill and experience.)
'Elections are demand-driven'
With this election offering more of the same, pundits said the challenge for civil society groups, the media, and the Commission on
Elections is to get candidates talking about specific issues beyond who's running with who. (READ: We need election debates, not
boodle fights)
Billed as the referendum of Aquino's tuwid na daan, the polls must engage the administration to defend the merits of its anti-corruption
and anti-poverty programs with clear arguments and statistics, and compel other candidates to present viable alternatives.
In the long-term, voters must call for political party and campaign finance reform. If Filipinos do not like a system perpetuating name
recall and celebrity politics, they have to change the other side of the equation.
The quality of elections will depend on the demand side, the voters, said Parreo. If candidates do not feel pressured, they will not
act. Elections are demand-driven.

To prevent more political abominations, Filipinos must make higher standards the norm. Rappler.com