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Philippine Showbiz Today
December 8 - 21, 2015
‘Grace was a gift’ – Susan Roces
As her political opponents
continued with the barrage
of opinions about her lack of
qualification to run for president,
one thing is clear for Sen. Grace
Poe: the government should not
abandon those who had already
been abandoned by their parents.
Poe, who has kept silent on
the attacks against her, said she
remains committed to fight for
the rights of foundlings to ensure
that their status in life does not
limit or hinder their dreams.
“Ang
isang
batang
inabandona
ng
kanyang
mga magulang ay hindi
rin dapat iabandona ng
ating
pamahalaan,”
said
Poe,
an
independent
presidential candidate who
has topped voters’ surveys.
“It would be very sad to think
that a person or a child will have
to endure the injustices and the
cruel words that I’ve gone through
in the past months,” she added.
Despite her victory at the
Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET),
Poe has been assailed by political
foes who insist that she is not a
natural-born Filipino because she
was a foundling whose biological
parents could not be traced.
She recently underwent DNA
tests with two women, both
descendants of the people
who found her abandoned at
the Jaro Cathedral in 1968,
but their DNAs did not match.
From Edgardo and Sayong
Militar, who found her at the
church, Poe was passed on
to Negros haciendera Tessie
Ledesma, who later asked her
friends, showbiz royalty Fernando
Poe Jr. (FPJ) and Susan Roces,
if they wanted to adopt Poe.
Roces has said in previous
interviews
that
she
was
initially hesitant as they were
then newly married but FPJ
fell in love with the baby.
“Grace took her first steps
in my husband’s company and
her first word was papa,” Roces
said in reports. “It was God’s will
that she came into our lives; she
adored her father like anything.
Grace was God’s gift to us.”
As of press time,
the
Commission on Elections on
Tuesday night has disqualified
Senator
Grace
Poe,
the
frontrunner in opinion polls for
next year’s presidential race,
saying she was guilty of material
misrepresentation
in
her
Certificate of Candidacy.
In a resolution, the Comelec
2nd Division granted the petition
of Estrella Elamparo to deny due
course
to
Poe’s
COC.•
- Malaya
Grace Poe: Two rivals behind disqualifi cation cases
There is a conscious effort
by at least two rivals to disqualify
Senator Grace Poe from next year’s
presidential elections, the indepen-
dent presidential candidate told re-
porters on Wednesday.
A day after the Commission on
Elections Second Division ruled to
cancel her certifi cate of candidacy
for president after it found her lack-
ing in residency, Poe said other
presidential bets seemed bent on re-
moving her from the race.
“Napakasigasig kasi ng pros-
eso na ginagawa nila. Talagang gus-
to nila akong ipitin. Siguro kasama
iyan sa stratehiya nila,” Poe told re-
porters after a news forum in Pasay
City.
“Pero sino ba talaga ang mag-
bebenepisyo dito? Eh ‘di iyong mga
katunggali ko na dalawa na sigura-
do ako na iyon ang nagpaharap ng
mga kasong iyon,” she said.
Asked later if she was referring
to administration standard bearer
Mar Roxas and Vice President Je-
jomar Binay, she said: “Oo, sila na-
man ‘yun.”
Poe has been leading presiden-
tial preference surveys over the past
two quarters.
Aside from Poe, Roxas and Bi-
nay, other contenders in the presi-
dential elections include Davao
City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, Sena-
tor Miriam Defensor Santiago and
OFW party-list Representative Roy
Señeres.
When asked to name which
rivals she saw as behind the cases,
Poe referred to connections among
law fi rms and political alliances.
“Alam na ninyo ang mga
koneksyon,” Poe said as she refused
to comment any further as regards
the identities of the rivals she was
referring to.
“Maglaban tayo sa tamang
paraan,” Poe added.
Marikina Representative Miro
Quimbo, a spokesman for the LP-
led Koalisyon ng Daang Matuwid,
said the administration coalition is
not behind the disqualifi cation cas-
es fi led against Poe.
Quimbo said the ruling party
could have dealt a blow to Poe’s
run weeks ago when Senator Bam
Aquino, an LP member, voted on
Poe’s disqualifi cation case be-
fore the S