Emotional day for Grace Poe

BIÑAN CITY—Her daylong visit here Tuesday became an emotional roller coaster for presidential aspirant Sen. Grace Poe.

Poe, the standard-bearer of Partido Galing at Talino, jumped with joy after learning that the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) had voted 5-4 to throw out the petition questioning her win in the 2013 senatorial election.

“Thank you all. Now you can return to Manila,” a smiling Poe told her former classmates who joined her visit to University of Perpetual Help System here.

She then gamely posed for selfies and hugged her friends and supporters as they celebrated her “first round victory” in her legal battle against those questioning her qualification to run for President in the May 2016 general elections.

“I’m very happy and from the bottom of my heart, I thank those who sided with justice and chose to protect the rights of our voters,” Poe added. “This is also for the foundlings and other children who were abandoned. You gave us strength and a place in this country.”

She said her colleagues who decided in her favor showed the people that “they really care for the voice of the voters.”

The senator also thanked her adoptive mother, actress Susan Roces, who, she said, had reminded her that she should accept whatever would be the decision of the nine-member SET.

“I’m grateful for the love of my adoptive parents. Because of the opportunity they have given me, I’m now right in front of you fighting for our dreams to make our country better,” she said.

Moments before the celebratory mood, an emotional Poe teared up while speaking before a multisectoral gathering at a public market in nearby Calamba City.

She recalled how she was belittled by her critics when she ran for the Senate as a rookie politician in 2013.

She said her visits to Laguna province had always been a poignant trip for her as her adoptive father, the late action star Fernando Poe Jr., had filmed some of his most memorable movies in the province.

“If I were to choose the people who will raise me and care for me, I would still choose them because they taught me how to live decently and how to care for those in need,” Poe said, her voice cracking.

“When I ran for senator, they said I will not win because the people have forgotten about FPJ,” she said as she broke into tears. “‘What has she done? Who is she?’ But when I was voted into office, I protected the name of my father. I did my best even if I’m still new in the Senate.”

Poe said her triumph was also a victory of the people who were longing for change in the government and those who “believe that our country will be in a better place.”

“This is a victory for those who dream of getting quality jobs when they graduate to help their families. This is for our farmers who should not be left behind in our economic development,” she said in Filipino.