Pimentel: Prolonging disqualification suit will benefit FPJ

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. warned the Arroyo administration yesterday that prolonging the disqualification case against opposition standard-bearer Fernando Poe Jr. will work in the latter’s favor.

Pimentel told reporters that he was addressing his warning to the administration because he believes that Malacañang is behind the move to disqualify the movie actor.

"I suppose the administration’s game plan is that the longer this case is kept hanging, the better it is for them. But I think they are sadly mistaken because the people are getting agitated over the apparent or perceived harassment of Mr. Poe by way of questioning his citizenship. Therefore, my conclusion is there is no stopping an FPJ presidency. It’s like a tsunami that will drown everybody in its wake," he said.

Pimentel is running for another term as senator under Poe’s ticket.

He urged Malacañang to abandon the "senseless disqualification case after it was dealt a technical knockout (in) the first round by an ala-Manny Pacquiao fist blow."

"It is obvious that the petition will not go anywhere except to the wastebasket because there is no evidence whatsoever that Fernando Poe Jr. is not a natural-born Filipino," he said.

The Mindanao senator, however, conceded that no one can prevent the petitioner in the Poe disqualification case, lawyer Victorino Fornier, from appealing the dismissal of his complaint by the Commission on Elections and bringing the matter to the Supreme Court.

In fact, Pimentel suggested that Fornier bring the issue directly to the high tribunal.

"Once the case is brought to the Supreme Court, it is imperative that the tribunal resolve it expeditiously because of its extreme national importance," he said.

Citing the Comelec ruling on the Poe disqualification case, Pimentel also said the issue of the movie actor being an illegitimate or legitimate child has no bearing on his citizenship.

He said in throwing out the case, the Comelec’s first division held that Fornier failed to show that Allan Fernando Poe Sr., Poe’s father, had acquired Spanish citizenship and was therefore presumed to be a Filipino.

"Our Constitution provides that the citizenship of a child is determined by the citizenship of the father. Thus, regardless of whether FPJ was born out of wedlock, if his father was a Filipino citizen, then there is no question that he was a Filipino. But it is another thing if the father is an alien. Then the child is given the opportunity to choose the citizenship of the father or mother," he explained.