Philippine court rules Senator Poe is qualified to run for president

Presidential candidate senator Grace Poe greets her supporters during the start of the national elections campaigning at Plaza Miranda, Quiapo, metro Manila, Philippines February 9, 2016.

Reuters/Romeo Ranoco


MANILA The Philippine Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that a senator who spent much of her life in the United States is eligible to run for president, reversing a decision by the election commission and putting her in line to reclaim her position as frontrunner.


Voting 9-6, the judges allowed first-term Senator Grace Poe to run in the May election, said court spokesman Theodore Te, a decision that will shake up what is now a tight race to succeed President Benigno Aquino.


Poe, 47, was abandoned as a child in a church in the central Philippines and was adopted by movie actors. She had been leading opinion polls, but questions about her citizenship allowed three of her four rivals to catch up.


Ramon Casiple, executive director of the Institute for Political and Electoral Reform, told Reuters the ruling would put her back in the lead.


"A favorable decision seals Poe's frontrunner position," he said.


Poe has campaigned on a pro-poor campaign, promising to build on Aquino's programs of creating jobs and building infrastructure, which have helped propel one of Asia's fastest growing economies.


"It's a dangerous result," Manuelito Luna, a lawyer for former senator Francisco Tatad who opposed Poe's candidacy, told Reuters. "It's a recipe for chaos."


Luna said his team would appeal against the decision.


A former pre-school teacher, Poe moved to the United States during her university years and spent much of her adult life in Fairfax, Virginia, marrying an American of Philippine origin.


The mother of three returned to the Philippines in late 2004 after her adoptive father, action movie hero Fernando Poe, died and topped the Philippine senatorial race in 2013, running on his legacy.


The 2016 presidential election is being closely watched by investors, who fear the political succession could derail the above 6 percent average economic growth and efforts to crack down on corruption made during Aquino's rule.


Aquino, in power since 2010, is barred under the constitution from seeking a second term.


(Reporting by Karen Lema and Manuel Mogato; Editing by Nick Macfie)