Fernando Poe Jr is eligible to run for Philippine president in May's election, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday, handing the film star a critical victory in his bid to unseat President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
Poe supporters danced jubilantly at his campaign headquarters after hearing the ruling, which can still be appealed.
"Justice prevails," said Butch Cadsawan, president of one movement supporting Poe.
A transcript of the court's decision released to reporters said its justices had ruled by eight votes to five to support a previous ruling by election body Comelec that Poe was a natural-born Filipino qualified to run for office.
"An hour ago, the Supreme Court decided to dismiss the petition to disqualify Fernando Poe Jr, holding Fernando Poe Jr as a natural-born Filipino qualified to run for president," court spokesman Ismael Khan told reporters.
The long uncertainty over Poe's status has kept the peso near its record low of 56.35 to the US dollar. Despite the ruling, the market is unlikely to find much relief in the short term.
The lawyers who filed the petitions against Poe have 15 days to file a motion for reconsideration. Arroyo has denied being behind the petitions, saying she thinks Poe should run.
Poe boasts massive support from the movie-loving poor for his roles as a champion of the oppressed who lets his fists and guns do most of the talking.
But a Poe presidency is viewed with anxiety by markets worried about his lack of economic or political experience.
The prospect of mass unrest by his supporters if he was disqualified had loomed as an even bigger worry.
Earlier, SWAT teams with assault rifles and riot squads backed by water cannon had surrounded the Supreme Court in central Manila as police restricted traffic.
By late afternoon, there no signs of a major gathering of his supporters, despite earlier reports of a massing of pro-Poe backers.
Opinion polls show him neck-and-neck with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as both run far ahead of four others seeking the nation's highest office.
Ironically, many analysts viewed a "yes" verdict as positive for Arroyo, who has struggled to establish her legitimacy in the eyes of millions of poor after she rode a wave of anti-corruption protests to oust their hero Joseph Estrada, another ex-film star, in early 2001.
But the verdict is sure to boost Poe's campaign, which had been showing signs of flagging as doubts rose over his candidacy.
"The money bags who have been hesitant to put their money on Poe will at this point invest in him just in case he wins," political analyst Joel Rocamora said.
The Supreme Court was weighing petitions questioning whether Poe is in fact a Filipino after his birth out of wedlock to an American mother and a father born early in the last century during the US occupation of the Philippines.
Airlines in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore yesterday canceled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower into the sky. Australia’s Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded flights after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores island spewed a 9km tower a day earlier. Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, India’s IndiGo and Singapore’s Scoot also listed flights as canceled. “Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to safe operations of the aircraft in the vicinity of volcanic clouds,” AirAsia said as it announced several cancelations. Multiple eruptions from the 1,703m twin-peaked volcano in
A plane bringing Israeli soccer supporters home from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.” Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which erupted after a UEFA Europa League soccer tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was sending six planes to the Netherlands to bring the fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israeli Airports Authority said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered
Former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said if US President Joe Biden had ended his re-election bid sooner, the Democratic Party could have held a competitive nominating process to choose his replacement. “Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi said in an interview on Thursday published by the New York Times the next day. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” she said. Pelosi said she thought the Democratic candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris, “would have done
Farmer Liu Bingyong used to make a tidy profit selling milk but is now leaking cash — hit by a dairy sector crisis that embodies several of China’s economic woes. Milk is not a traditional mainstay of Chinese diets, but the Chinese government has long pushed people to drink more, citing its health benefits. The country has expanded its dairy production capacity and imported vast numbers of cattle in recent years as Beijing pursues food self-sufficiency. However, chronically low consumption has left the market sloshing with unwanted milk — driving down prices and pushing farmers to the brink — while
RSS