However, teleserye no longer confines itself on television as we now have something to look forward to as they say “SUNDAN ANG SUSUNOD NA KABANATA” and that is the decision of the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) on the citizenship of Grace Poe Llamanzares to make her eligible to run for president.
For a common "masa" like me that do not have much knowledge about those Republic Act law and legal terms lingo all I understand is that there was a time in Grace Poe’s life that she renounced her Filipino citizenship and opted to become a naturalized US citizen.
Although there is really nothing wrong in doing so as majority of us Filipino if given a chance will also change citizenship considering the present situation of our country. Every day we struggle to live a decent life. We scrape our pocket to pay the tuition of our children. We just depend on God not to let us go sick as we cannot afford the high cost of hospitalization. We crammed ourselves like sardines on MRT/LRT and public transportation just to go to work that pays us so little that can barely feed our family well.
Grace Poe never experienced what we are going through. Although a foundling, she was adopted by the king and queen of Philippine movies and was sent to the best and most expensive school in the country. In spite of that she still chose to abjure her Filipino citizenship. For what? So she can also enjoy the fringe benefits that go with being an American citizen? To heck with other Filipinos who cannot avail the privilege she can get.
Just like the usual teleserye to make it a hit there should be an interesting twist on the story. Her adopted father, Fernando Poe, Jr, run for presidency on 2004 and was allegedly cheated by Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Then 7 months after, he suffered from stroke and eventually died. The unfortunate event drove Grace to come home and help her adopted mother run their family business. For her own convenience she filed for Dual Citizenship because it is illegal for a foreigner to own a business or buy a property in the Philippines. Take note, she still keeps Uncle Sam citizenship up her sleeve.
Comes the conflict of our teleserye. On October 2010 President Benigno Aquino III offered her the seat to become a chairperson of Movies and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB). To accept the position she has to abandon her US citizenship. So a day before her oath taking she files an affidavit before a notary public in Pasig City renouncing her US citizenship. She, however, submitted the affidavit to the Philippine Bureau of Immigration and not to US government. Grace Poe only swore oath of renunciation with the US Vice Consul in Manila on July 2011 which is already 9 months after she assumed office at MTRCB. Why did she wait like a pregnant woman until the baby is full grown before she informed the US government that she is giving up her citizenship?
Ok now we have to fast track our storyline so we should not lose our viewership rating. Grace Poe ran for senatorial seat in 2013 and won. Now 3 years later she is running for presidency. Wait! Is the story going too fast to your liking? You bet it is! But then our lead role can’t wait any longer. She obviously got overwhelmed by the result of the survey and the incitement of some ambitious traditional politician who wanted to join her popularity bandwagon.
Of course we have to have villain in our teleserye to make it more exciting. So we will give the role to a defeated senatorial candidate Rizalito David and his counsel Manuelito Luna filing a disqualification suit against Grace Poe on the grounds of her residency but Judge Antonio Carpio, the chair of SET suggested that residency be dropped. Instead Grace Poe’s citizenship should be given more focus on the case.
As of this writing the SET which is composed of a nine-member team that includes Senators Vicente Sotto III, Loren Legarda, Cynthia Villar, Pia Cayetano, and Paulo Benigno Aquino IV, as well as Associate Justices Teresita Leonardo-de Castro and Arturo Brion is yet to release its decision on the fate of Grace Poe Llamanzares’ ambition to run for president. For the meantime, let our viewers standby on the upcoming episode of our exciting teleserye entitled “Wag naman Poe!”
As of this writing the SET which is composed of a nine-member team that includes Senators Vicente Sotto III, Loren Legarda, Cynthia Villar, Pia Cayetano, and Paulo Benigno Aquino IV, as well as Associate Justices Teresita Leonardo-de Castro and Arturo Brion is yet to release its decision on the fate of Grace Poe Llamanzares’ ambition to run for president. For the meantime, let our viewers standby on the upcoming episode of our exciting teleserye entitled “Wag naman Poe!”
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