Grace Poe admits getting hurt by ‘ambitious’ tag

Senator Grace Poe. FILE PHOTO/JOSEPH VIDAL, PRIB

Senator Grace Poe said she was hurt by the “ambitious” tag labeled against her by a former lawmaker, who supported her late father, Fernando Poe Jr’s presidential bid in 2004.

“Karapatan n’ya ‘yun pero syempre para sa akin masakit dahil sinasabi n’ya na ambisyoso raw ako, para bagang wala namang karapatang na mangarap ang isang tao na manibilhan,” Poe said in an interview on Friday in the city of San Juan.

(It’s his right, but I am hurt by his comment that I am ambitious, as if one didn’t have the right to serve others.)

The senator was reacting to former Congressman Jacinto Paras, who reportedly described her as “very ambitious.”

Paras, who supported FPJ in the 2004 presidential race, said he would file a disqualification case against Poe should the latter decide to run for a higher post in 2016, citing the residency and citizenship issues earlier raised against her by some officials of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA).

READ: Grace Poe not eligible for presidency, says UNA | Grace Poe’s use of US passport until 2010 renders kink in residency claim

But the senator was unfazed by Paras’ statements.

“Para sa akin kung ito’y ipa- file na sa korte pagkakataon ko to na madepensahan ang aking sarili,” she said. “Wala naman po akong tinatago at ginagalang ko ang batas at ako’y ay nagdadasal para sa katarungan.”

(If this will be raised in court, I will use it as an opportunity to defend myself. I am not hiding anything and I respect the law; I am also praying for justice.)

It was Navotas Representative Toby Tiangco, interim president of UNA, who said that Poe was not qualified to run for a higher post next year, saying she did not meet the 10-year residency requirement of the Constitution. But Tiangco later apologized for raising the issue.

READ: Tiangco apologizes for ‘causing damage’ to relationship of Grace Poe, Binays

Meanwhile, UNA interim secretary-general JV Bautista, said Poe could also be disqualified for not being a “natural-born” Filipino.

READ: A ‘foundling’: UNA claims new dope on Poe

“A foundling by definition is stateless,” Bautista said of Poe, an adopted daughter of the late movie actor Fernando Poe Jr. and actress Susan Roces. The senator was abandoned in a church in Jaro, Iloilo province.

But Poe said she would fight her case not only because it was personal to her but because there is growing number of children in the country who are being abandoned by their parents.

“Ako nga po ay nagpapasalamat dahil nabigyan ng tamang pag-aaruga. Sana naman huwag nating maliitin o bawasan ng pagkakataon ang sinuman…” she further said.

(I am grateful because I was nurtured. I hope we do not belittle others or deprive them of opportunities). IDL