Sen. Grace Poe speaks during the kick off rally of her team dubbed as Partido Galing at Puso held at the Plaza Miranda, Quiapo, Manila. RAY BAJAMUNDE JR.
IN FRONT of the historic Quiapo Church, Manila, a combative Senator Grace Poe vowed on Tuesday to defend her “Filipino identity” against those who she said have gone to great lengths to tarnish her name.
“The story of my life started inside a church. It is fitting that I should launch the next chapter in front of a church,” Poe said in her speech during the kick off rally of her team dubbed as Partido Galing at Puso held at the Plaza Miranda, just in front the Quiapo Church.
“As my father has told me: In whatever you do in your life, always fill your efforts with prayers. Therefore, in this historic spot – before the people, before God – I offer this pledge: I am Grace Poe, mother, daughter, Filipino. With all my heart and strength, I will uphold and defend programs of a compassionate government, our aspirations for the Filipino family, our hopes for the country and our children,” she said.
“And to those who have gone to great lengths to tarnish my good name, I am ready to defend my Filipino identity, here and now,” the senator added.
Poe, the frontrunner in the latest presidential surveys, was slapped with disqualification cases at the Commission on Elections (Comelec), which later canceled her certificate of candidacy for president over her citizenship and residency.
A quo warranto petition was also filed against her at the Senate Electoral Tribunal seeking to unseat her as senator also over her citizenship but the tribunal ruled against the petition.
Both cases are now the subject of appeal at the Supreme Court.
Poe, in her speech, also talked about her being a founding, one of the subjects in the cases against her.
“Some have argued that, because I am a foundling, I can never be a true Filipino… That because I am a woman, I can never fight a man’s fight or do a man’s job… That because I lack experience, I also do not have competence… There are even those who say that my life is just too full of drama…,” she said.
“Maybe my life is replete with drama because, like the majority of Filipinos, there are difficulties that I have to struggle with, I have been oppressed and belittled, but I rise to fight again after each battle, after the passing of each storm of my life and fate.”
“They may well call it drama, but this is my real life… It is the reality that many Filipinos live everyday.”
“Despite all these, I stand before you today as a Filipino, a woman who knows how to fight bullies and oppressors, a leader with a heart that loves our country and people. It is from the people that I draw strength so I may serve them truly and effectively…” Poe added.
Found in a church in Iloilo, the senator was adopted by the late action star, Fernando Poe Jr. and veteran actress, Susan Roces.
Poe said that from childhood, her parents have molded her to have integrity, diligence and hard work, courtesy, kindness, and consideration for others; truthful, and not to take advantage; and to be helpful, especially to children and the disadvantaged.
“Armed with these qualities and values, I am running for the presidency of our country, so that I may stand and fight with all of you whose lives are full of drama… whose daily pain and struggles are drawn from long experience…” she said.
Poe ended her speech with a quote and popular lines used by her father in his movies.
“As my father said: Don’t brag about having many people beneath you; Don’t brag about wealth. We are all the same.”
“Each of us should be able to realize our dreams. Every child should be able to dream of becoming a teacher, a policeman, a prosperous farmer, a lawyer, even a president of our country,” she said.
“Puno na ang salop. Our tolerance for poverty, our tolerance for corruption, is at its end. Dapat na itong kalusin. We will beat it out of our system together. We will fight for each one’s right to food, jobs, education and protection.
“This is our promise. This is my heart’s mission. I will never betray your trust; I will never turn my back on what my parents taught me. I am Grace Poe, and in our Gobyernong may Puso, you are my family,” Poe said.
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