‘DNA tests won’t affect Grace bid’

A political analyst said the negative findings on the deoxyribonucleic acid tests of Sen. Grace Poe may have no effect on her candidacy as the Filipino people see the citizenship issue as a negative propaganda to have her disqualified from the presidential race by her rivals.

Prof. Ronald Simbulan of the University of the Philippines said the citizenship issue involving the senator is just being used by her political rivals to weaken her chances in the presidency. He noted that the people see it as a propaganda, the reason why she continues to lead in the ratings.

“So evidently her rivals are really worried of her high ratings in the survey but the more they question her being a foundling, her allegedly not being a natural-born citizen, the more she gets sympathy from the people. She becomes more of an underdog because her rivals do not have a chance to win if she continues to run,” Simbulan said.

Poe continues to lead over other presidential candidates in almost all surveys even after a disqualification case was filed against her before the Senate Electoral Tribunal and the Commission on Elections.

Simbulan added that people have long considered Poe as a naturalborn Filipino citizen when they voted for her in the 2013 senatorial elections in which she garnered more than 20 million votes, the most number of votes ever recorded in history for a senator.