MANILA, Philippines – Speaking at a friend’s birthday party, President Rodrigo Duterte said on Tuesday, November 28, that he would “like” Grace Poe to be Philippine president one day.

“But I like Grace Poe to be president some day if the requirement remains to be the same,” he said at the birthday party of Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation president Alfredo Lim in Cavite.

Duterte was recalling how he decided to run for president because of the Supreme Court decision which declared Poe, a foundling, is a natural-born Filipino citizen who can thus seek the presidency.

The party was sentimental for him because it was in the same occasion in 2015 when he announced he was running for president, after denying several times his presidential bid.

On Tuesday night, Duterte said he still thinks the Supreme Court had made the wrong decision, which is why he wants the 1987 Constitution amended to allow foundlings to run for high public offices.

“But I think we will amend the Constitution and make that exception, that foundlings are already qualified,” he said.

Such an amendment would thus leave no doubt in his mind, and the mind of others, that foundlings like Poe can run for president.

Earlier that day, Duterte had proposed to Congress that they amend the Constitution to strengthen safeguards against government corruption.

The Duterte administration wants constitutional amendments that would allow a shift to a federal form of government, and changes in the Constitution’s economic provisions, among others. – Rappler.com