Grace keeps public guessing

SAN JOSE CITY, Nueva Ecija, Philippines – Sen. Grace Poe urged local youth leaders here on Friday to value integrity, but kept the people guessing on her plans for the presidential elections next year.

There were reports that Poe would declare her candidacy for president on her 47th birthday on Sept. 3 but she clarified that there would be no such declaration next week.

“There is no truth to that. I am not declaring my intention to run for president on Sept. 3,” Poe told newsmen at the Youth Leadership Forum held at the Constancio Padilla National High School (CNHS) here.

She said an announcement could be made on Oct. 16, the deadline for the filing of certificates of candidacy for all elective positions.

Organizers of the forum led by Globe Telecom presented Poe with a cake as an advanced birthday gift.

During the forum, Poe answered questions from students, particularly on her citizenship, something she said was but natural for someone perceived to be eyeing the highest position of the land.

“It’s only proper that people scrutinize the character of each candidate seeking public office,” she said.

Poe assured the students that she is a Filipino citizen, despite a case filed before the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) questioning her citizenship.

In what appears to be a swipe at her closest rival, Vice President Jejomar Binay, Poe said the citizenship issue against her is not similar to graft and corruption.

She said public servants should be trustworthy even in small things, more so on big things.

“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little things will also be dishonest with much,” she added.

Poe’s visit here is symbolic since her father the late actor Fernando Poe Jr. garnered a margin of 300,000 votes over Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in the 2004 presidential elections that Arroyo subsequently won.

To this day, the elder Poe is widely believed to have won the elections over Arroyo.

Pasig Rep. Roman Romulo, Mayor Marivic Belena and other local officials accompanied Poe in her visit to province.

Poe’s speech at the forum was interrupted several times by the cheers of the students.

Provincial board member Joseph Ortiz, one of the convenors of the Grace Poe for President Movement, said the crowd’s response to Poe was not only impressive but unbelievable.

“Dumadagundong (thundering) just like FPJ. Like father, like daughter,” he said.

Poe said the youth should learn to do what is right so that when they grow up, they have such virtue with them.

Meanwhile, leaders of the House of Representatives said yesterday they believe Sen. Poe could easily hurdle the disqualification case filed against her before the SET.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said the SET is the proper forum for such issues against Poe to be settled, adding he feels for the senator’s family whenever her citizenship and her qualifications are being questioned.

“I personally believe her citizenship is beyond question and qualification,” Belmonte said. With Paolo Romero