Chiz Escudero to Grace Poe: Brace yourself for more attacks

Sen. Francis Escudero on Thursday advised Sen. Grace Poe to brace herself for more political attacks after she took the lead in Pulse Asia's latest presidential preference survey from the former pacesetter Vice President Jejomar Binay.

“I won’t be surprised if Senator Poe will be the target of more attacks,” Escudero said in a text message.

“We have already seen a hint of what is to come with the previous attacks on her, questioning her citizenship and residency status,” he added.

He, however, believed that the attacks will be confined to the two issues.

“These are the very same issues they raised against her father, FPJ (the late Fernando Poe Jr.), when he ran for President and which he won and overcame,” said Escudero, who served as the spokesperson of Poe’s father in the 2004 presidential elections.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was declared the winner in the 2004 elections but her term was marked by serious questions of legitimacy due to the allegations of fraud.

Escudero said these issues are “shallow and utterly without basis” and can be addressed by Poe in case she decides to seek higher post and a disqualification case is filed against her before the courts.

“I’m glad Senator Poe does not have to deal with allegations of corruption and other wrongdoing, which is a very difficult situation to be in,” the senator said.

Meanwhile, Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr said he was not surprised with Poe’s high ratings.

“Hindi naman siguro nakakagulat iyon. I think we were expecting that more or less, that would be the result. We didn’t know exactly what the numbers would be but the trend in the past few months have seem to indicate that that’s what going to happen. That’s not entirely a surprise,” Marcos said in a weekly news forum at the Senate.

In the Pulse Asia survey, 30 percent of the respondents preferred Poe while 22 percent chose Binay. It was the first time the senator has overtaken Binay in the surveys.

The same survey result showed Poe was also the preferred candidate for vice president with 41 percent of the people supporting her, followed by Escudero, who received 15 percent. Marcos received nine percent, tied with Davao City mayor Rodrigo Duterte. -NB, GMA News