CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines — There was not a trace of worry when Senator Grace Poe, in her signature white dress, emerged from a hotel here shortly before 4:00 p.m. on Sunday for the first presidential debate at the Capitol University.
A screaming supporters and bystanders greeted Poe outside the hotel chanting her name before she boarded the coaster full of her friends and some staff members, who traveled all the way from Manila to give her moral support.
While waiting for Poe, her friends and staff members prayed for her.
Senator Grace Poe. PHOTO BY KRISTINE ANGELI SABILLO/INQUIRER.net
Poe was all smiles when she boarded the vehicle, chatted with friends and sometimes even cracked jokes with them.
She was not seated long enough on the coaster when her supporters wearing white shirts with words “Grace Poe 2016” lined up along the streets , waving and chanting her name. Some of them jumped and danced in joy on seeing her.
At one point, Poe even asked the driver of the coaster to stop so she could go down the vehicle and approach a group of teens onboard a truck, who went wild when she shook their hands.
As the vehicle was approaching the university, her friends wished her luck.
“Goodluck Grace!!!” they said.
Poe was escorted directly to her holding room where she stayed while waiting for the debate to start at 5:00 p.m.
While waiting at the holding room with her lawyers and some staff members, the senator got some bites, retouched her make up before proceeding to the debate proper.
