Presidential aspirant Senator Grace Poe. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
BUENAVISTA, Guimaras—Siblings and other members of a poor family in this island province have undergone DNA testing to determine if the child their late eldest sister, Victoria Rodriguez, gave up for adoption in the late 1960s was Sen. Grace Poe.
“We did not come out for the money,” stressed Junie Rodriguez, 54, a casual employee at the municipal slaughterhouse here, when asked if he was aware a P300,000 cash reward had been offered by a retired judge for information leading to the identity of Poe’s biological parents.
The senator, a presidential candidate, is being challenged on her qualifications as a natural-born Filipino citizen because she is a foundling and her parents are unknown. She was adopted by show biz couple Susan Roces and Fernando Poe Jr.
In an interview with the Inquirer, Junie said their youngest sibling, Lorena Rodriguez-De Chavez, and two daughters of Victoria underwent DNA testing last week, even before the reward was announced.
The results may be known in two weeks.
“We would be happy if it will turn out positive but if not, it will be OK for us because we tried to help,” said Junie, the eighth of 12 siblings.
“We only want to help her in her [disqualification] case. We would be bothered by our conscience if she loses and we could have done something but did not,” he said.
Teresa Rodriguez-Victoriano, his younger sister, said the family was hurt by insinuations by radio commentators that they only came out for the money.
“We grew up with the belief that she was our niece. We could have come out when she became senator but we did not want to pull her down from where she is now because we are poor and she is better off in her position,” Teresa, 61, told the Inquirer during the interview in Barangay East Valencia where most of the siblings reside.
She said their parents were poor farmers. None of the 10 surviving siblings have regular jobs.
Junie and Teresa said the family long had a “gut feeling” that Poe was the baby who was given up for adoption by Victoria, who died in 1996 at the age of about 50 due to heat stroke in Sultan Kudarat in Mindanao. With reports from Carla P. Gomez, Inquirer Visayas; and Christine O. Avendaño