FPJ: I am a Filipino

Normally media-shy, actor Fernando Poe Jr. personally refuted allegations that he is unqualified to run for president in May because he is not a natural-born Filipino.

"Alam ko Pinoy ako (I know I am Filipino)," Poe said on GMA-7’s "Saksi" news program late Friday night after a meeting with members of the opposition Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP), which is backing his candidacy.

Poe refuted the allegations in an interview with reporters who were waiting outside the gate of Sen. Teresa Aquino-Oreta’s residence in Makati City, where the coalition meeting was held.

"My mother was married to my father," Poe said. "My mother was an American and my father was a Filipino."

"Yes, I am a Filipino," Poe said, reacting to the petition filed by lawyer Victorino Fornier before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) seeking Poe’s disqualification from allegedly because Poe’s father, Allan Fernando Poe, was a Spanish citizen, while his mother, Elizabeth "Bessie" Kelly was an American.

Fornier said Poe’s grandparents Lorenzo Poe and Marta Reyes were Spanish citizens, as indicated in Allan Poe’s birth certificate.

In his petition, Fornier also alleged that Poe is an "illegitimate child" of Allan Poe because the elder Poe married a certain Paulita Gomez before his union with Kelly. According to Fornier, Gomez filed bigamy and concubinage charges against Allan Poe.

Fornier, meanwhile, said there was nothing personal in his actions seeking Poe’s disqualification. Rather, Fornier said, his motive was to "to make the rule of law prevail."

He also brushed aside the Poe camp’s insinuation that his petition was merely a "nuisance (suit) and should not be taken seriously."

"It was an expected reaction from their camp," said Fornier. The Poe camp was given three days to comment of the petition.

"Poe is not allowed to file a motion to dismiss, but only to answer the issue," Fornier said. "The Comelec is to clarify the issue on his citizenship."

Fornier also anticipated that the Poe camp would link him to other presidential candidates who stand to benefit from Poe’s disqualification.

Fornier said he has no affiliation with them, though "we have a small circle of friends," he said, without elaborating.

Sources said the camp of a presidential candidate has been conducting research into Poe’s family background for quite some time.

"Perhaps this candidate has anticipated something once Comelec disqualifies Poe from the presidential derby," the source said.

Former Senate President and KNP senatorial candidate Ernesto Maceda, borrowing some catchy lines from two popular songs, said Poe’s opponents "are trying to invent issues because they know his ratings are ispaghetting pataas ng pataas. Sa kanila, nag-o-otso-otso pababa (Poe’s ratings are on the rise while theirs are falling)."

Poe, meanwhile, said he harbors no ill feelings towards former Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago for leaving the opposition and joining the administration Koalisyon ng Katapatan at Karanasan sa Kinabukasan (K-4) senatorial ticket.

"That’s okay, if that is her decision," Poe said.

He also lauded his running mate, Sen. Loren Legarda, who also bolted the ruling Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) party in October as "dedicated, hardworking."

The KNP earlier brushed aside Fornier’s bid to disqualify Poe as a nuisance suit "clearly designed to foster doubts about (Poe’s) citizenship in a futile bid to derail his landslide win in the 2004 polls."

Rod Reyes, who heads the Poe campaign media bureau, said Poe’s citizenship is already a long-resolved legal issue - evidenced by the issuance of a Philippine passport to Poe by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

Meanwhile, Poe said the KNP battlecry will be "trust and confidence," to underscore the importance of working at regaining the people’s trust and confidence in the government.

Poe told Legarda and members of his senatorial ticket during their "fellowship night" at Oreta’s house.

"Trust and confidence should be at the core of our campaign," Poe was quoted by Reyes as saying. "Kailangan na manumbalik ang kumpiyansa at pagtitiwala ng tao — at ‘yan ang asina natin. Kung wala ang mga ito, walang mangyayari sa atin (We should regain the trust and confidence of the people and that is our target. If these key elements are absent, then nothing will happen to us Filipinos)."

Besides Legarda, the meeting was attended by KNP senatorial candidates Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr., Maguindanao Rep. Didagen Dilangalen, Maceda, former senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Ernesto Herrera and Francisco Tatad, former Manila mayor Alfredo Lim, former San Juan mayor Jinggoy Estrada, former presidential adviser Jamby Madrigal and former National Youth Commission chairwoman Amina Rasul.

Poe also told his KNP colleagues that it is time to "conquer our past and focus on the future."

The actor said he has been holding meetings with various sectors to fine-tune the KNP’s platform of government and hear first-hand the concerns and inputs of these sectors on how government can effectively serve the people and win back their trust and confidence.

Full transparency in governance, Poe said, will be the trademark of his administration.

"Full transparency is one way of restoring public trust in the government," he said. "We will be transparent not only in words, but in deeds."

"I’m not a politician," Poe said, "but that is what I believe in. Unfulfilled promises would not find any room in the (Poe) administration." He earlier met separately with 50 youth leaders, academicians and policy study groups.

Pimentel, for his part, said Poe has assured that there is absolutely no chance that he will withdraw from the presidential derby, especially now that he is the object of a smear campaign by his political foes.

"I have a task for myself and that is to serve the country and I will face this challenge for the sake of the people," Pimentel quoted Poe as saying.

He added that Poe also said, "If my enemies think I will give up (because) they are hurting me, they are wrong."

"Poe wants unity and teamwork among the senatorial team. He does not want anybody to be left behind. If there is any candidate who is weak in a certain area, he should be given a helping hand. Otherwise, there is a danger of a break-up," Pimentel said. — With Cecille Suerte Felipe