“I feel I am fighting ‘City Hall,’” Senator Grace Poe said on Thursday as she disclosed that “powerful groups” with personal agenda were behind the disqualification cases filed against her.
READ: ‘The fight continues,’ says Poe after favorable SET decision
Poe said withdrawing from the challenges would have been an easier decision than running for president, which she said she did not aspire from the very beginning.
“The string of disqualification cases was filed against me when I was still contemplating a run for the Presidency by people whose motives were suspect at best. It was not an easy decision,” she said in a press conference at the Senate on Thursday, reading from a prepared statement.
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“Una sa lahat, hindi ko ito pinagnasaan. Mas madali na lang sana ang tumalikod at lumayo bago pa man magsimula ang kampanya. Tiwala ako na malaking ginhawa ang mararanasan sa aking araw araw na buhay.”
(First of all, I did not desire this. It wound have been easier if I turned my back and got away even before the campaign starts. I am confident that I would have found great comfort in my daily living.)
“Subali’t nanaig sa puso ko ang paghahangad ng mga taga-suporta na naghatid sa akin sa kinaroroonan ko ngayon at wala akong lakas ng loob na ipagka-nulo ang kanilang tiwala at pag-asa.”
(However, my desire of my supporters, who brought me where I am now, prevailed in my heart and I do not have the guts to betray their trust and hope.)
Turning back from the challenges, she said, would be contrary to what her parents had taught her.
“Tinuruan akong manindigan para sa aking mga prinsipyo at paniniwala at kung kinakailangan, makipag laban upang ipag tanggol ang mga naaapi,” she said.
(I was taught to stand up to my principles and beliefs and if necessary, to fight to defend the oppressed.)
“Admittedly, I feel I am fighting ‘City Hall.’” Powerful groups with personal agenda are behind the disqualification cases filed against me. But afraid I am not. Not when the people are behind me,” she further said.
Poe said she would continue her fight for the rights of the foundlings, adding that “Like the rest of you, they, too, deserve recognition as natural born citizens of our country.”
“Like you, they, too, have rights second only to none. Like you, they, too, deserve to occupy their rightful place in society. Like you, they, too, deserve an equal opportunity to serve our people and our country. And oh yes, I’m sure you have not forgotten, I, too, am a foundling.”
She said she would not only fight for the people who elected her in the Senate but those who want her to run for president in the 2016 elections as well.
“I fight for their right to choose their President, a President who can lead this nation out of its political and moral decay and lift the economic doldrums slowly creeping up on us,” said the senator.
“Ito ay hindi ko laban na mag-isa. Ito ay laban nating lahat—ikaw at ako. Laban nating baguhin ang tatahaking landas at kasaysayan ng ating Inang Bayan upang ang matiwasay na pamumuhay na ipinapangako ng mga nagdaang panahon ay makamtan na natin sa wakas.”
(This fight is not mine alone. This fight is ours—you and I. It is our fight to change the path that we will cross and the history of our country so that we can finally achieve the peaceful life promised from the past.)
“This is our fight against shenanigans in and out of government. This is our fight against the ills of society that pervade our land, poison our youth and distort our morals and national character,” she added.
To those who elected her in the Senate, Poe promised that she will not fail them.
And to the people who are with her in her fight to the presidency, the lady senator said their fight has just begun.
“Manalig po kayo, hindi tayo mabibigo. Sama-sama po tayong magwawagi,” she said.
(Have faith, we will not fail. Together, we will win.) RAM
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