MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED 12:15 a.m.) - Sen. Grace Poe on Monday night conceded to Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte after a partial and unofficial count of the votes showed the frontrunner leading the presidential race by at least 5 million votes.
"Ako si Grace Poe at naging kandidato sa pagkapangulo, ay nagbibigay daan kay Rodrigo Duterte na siyang maliwanag na nangunguna sa bilangan at siyang napili ng nakararami sa ating mga kababayan," the senator said Tuesday midnight.
Poe said the three-month campaign has been cruel to her, but said that she and her team remained clean and fair.
"Ipinagmamalaki kong sabihin na ako, ang aking pangkat, taga-suporta, hindi nawalan kailanman ng pananalig. Lumaban kami ng patas. Ginawa natin ang lahat ng ating makakaya," she said.
Poe, whose earlier disqualification by the Commission on Elections reached a favorable 9-6 decision by the Supreme Court, said she respects the result of the elections and she vows her cooperation for national healing.
In an interview with TV5, Duterte said Poe called him hours after results started coming in, informing him of the latter's acceptance of her fate in the hotly contested race.
Poe said the phone call was made as a courtesy to Duterte before she announced her acceptance of the election results.
"Naging maganda ang aming pag-uusap. Sa huli, sinabi rin naman niya sa akin na siya ay para sa pakikiisa," she said.