Senator Grace Poe. INQUIRER.net PHOTO
Presidential candidate Grace Poe has not shut the door on getting the endorsement of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, whom the senator’s father, the late movie actor Fernando Poe Jr., accused of stealing the presidency from him in the 2004 elections.
Poe campaigned on Thursday in Angeles City and Mabalacat in vote-rich Pampanga province (with 1.2 million registered voters), where the reigning power brokers, the Pinedas, have sided with Liberal Party (LP) presidential standard-bearer Mar Roxas.
READ: Even without hand-raising, Pampanga Gov. Pineda endorses LP bets
Apart from Gov. Lilia “Baby” Pineda, Poe also failed to get the endorsement of Sen. Lito Lapid, a close friend of her father but a member of the LP, who is backing Roxas.
READ: Poe quizzed about Arroyo ‘endorsement’
She said Lapid’s choice was a political rather than a personal decision, as his son, Mark, was a senatorial candidate of the LP.
Poe was assisted in her Pampanga campaign by Angeles City Vice Mayor Maria Vicenta Vega-Cabigting, who is running for mayor just like Lapid.
The senator was evasive when asked if she would welcome Arroyo’s endorsement, especially with a number of members of Lakas-CMD, the former President’s party, sending feelers to join Team Galing at Puso.
“I don’t want to say who will support me because they might change their minds and we’ll all be embarrassed. I think this is voluntarily given,” Poe said.
Poe’s father filed an electoral protest against Arroyo, alleging massive cheating, especially in Mindanao, but he died of a stroke seven months after the 2004 presidential election.
Poe said she was open to any support as long as it was clear that her only commitment to both friends or foes was to treat their pending cases fairly.
“That has been the problem in (this administration): If you have a problem, you get help if you’re an ally; you get charged if you’re a foe,” she said.
Previously, Sen. Bong Revilla, chair of Lakas-CMD, endorsed Poe and her running mate, Sen. Francis Escudero.
Both Arroyo and Revilla are detained on plunder charges. Arroyo has been detained in a military hospital for the most part of the Aquino term, allegedly for diverting part of the intelligence funds of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.
Revilla is being held at the Philippine National Police detention center for his alleged role in the P10-billion pork barrel scam.