Susan Roces endorses Escudero anew
Susan Roces. FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—The widow of the late actor and one-time presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr. has again endorsed the candidacy of re-electionist Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero.
Actress Susan Roces, who once lashed out at former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for allegedly stealing the presidency “not once, but twice,” said Escudero had the qualities of a real life hero just like her late husband.
“[Escudero] is humble and trustworthy,” Roces said of her late husband’s spokesperson during the 2004 elections.
Escudero has been campaigning alongside fellow Team PNoy candidate and Roces’ daughter Grace Poe, the only other senatorial candidate that the actress has endorsed so far.
Roces first endorsed Escudero’s national campaign in 2007 “and he didn’t disappoint me.”
“With his sterling performance, I’m sure the black propaganda against him won’t work,” she said.
“Like the late FPJ, Chiz is a gentleman. He doesn’t speak ill of his detractors. That’s how heroes are, they get beaten up in the beginning but in the end, they always emerge victorious,” she added.
Roces also cited Escudero’s performance in the Senate, particularly in the committee on justice and human rights, which under his chairmanship, passed all bills for the creation of 281 courts nationwide.
“(That is) proof of his dedication to justice and in fighting for the rights of the masses–doing an FPJ in the Senate,” Roces said.
Escudero, the chair of the Senate committee on justice, earlier said in a statement that the more than 200 courts created in the last Congress was the most number of new courts ever created by the Senate, “hopefully, ensuring that justice is no longer delayed or denied for our people.”
Grace Poe, former chair of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board, and Escudero, whose girlfriend is also an actress, have been constant partners in campaign sorties throughout the country.
Grace Poe has also acknowledged Escudero as one of her mentors in politics and has supposedly been a big help in her good showing in the surveys.
The two have consistently placed in the Top Five of the pre-election surveys conducted by polling firms Social Weather Stations and Pulse Asia.
