MANILA, Philippines – If there’s one common thing between the late Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo and her, Senator Grace Poe said it is the citizenship issues against them.

While Robredo’s widow, Camarines Sur Representative Leni Robredo, disputed this, the neophyte senator maintained she and the late secretary and Naga City mayor are “similar.”

Robredo earlier said her husband, unlike Poe, did not renounce his Filipino citizenship.

Citizenship issues against the late Cabinet secretary, Robredo said, “stemmed from the fact that [Jesse’s] father, who is a natural-born Filipino citizen under the 1935 Constitution, was born in the Philippines to Chinese parents.” (READ: Leni Robredo tells Poe: Jesse’s citizenship case ‘very different’ from yours)

“Jesse never did any act of renouncing his Filipino citizenship at any point in his life,” his widow, who is a lawyer, said.

But Poe said these are “technicalities” and that “the basic question is still about citizenship.”

“Well, marami kasi na ‘pag walang maibatong pagnanakaw sa ‘yo halimbawa o maibatong incompetence. ‘yon ang pinakamadaling issue na hahanapan nila ng pansin,” Poe told reporters after her meeting with the Nationalist People’s Coalition on Thursday, August 27.

(Well, there are many people, when they do not have any corruption, for example, or incompetence issues to throw at you, that [citizenship] is the easiest issue they can use [against you].) 

The Liberal Party, which Robredo is a part of, is eyeing Poe to be the running mate of administration standard-bearer Manuel “Mar” Roxas II.

Poe, however, is widely believed to be keen on running for president herself, with her friend and political ally Senator Francis Escudero as vice president. 

Poe, front runner in presidential preference surveys, is facing two disqualification cases against her on the basis of her alleged questionable citizenship and residency.

She is a foundling and was adopted by movie actors Susan Roces and Fernando Poe Jr. She then later on became an American citizen after her marriage to her husband.

She also allegedly does not meet the minimum number of years required for a politician to run for president. – Rappler.com