Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Presidential Aspirants Series: Grace Poe


PRESIDENTIAL ASPIRANTS SERIES:  GRACE POE
By Anton Antonio
August 12, 2015

“Campaign strategies should, at the very least, revolve around the governance qualification and competence of a candidate.  Mudslinging is part of the political entertainment… but, again, at a certain point, this has to stop.” (Antonio, 2015)  This was my last statement in a blog/article titled “This Has To Stop” published and posted on http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/ and https://www.facebook.com/antonio.c.antonio.  Consistent with my desire to make the 2016 presidential campaign a gentleman’s game, the articles to be carried in the “Presidential Aspirants Series” will not indulge in mudslinging, vilification, character assassination, image-demeaning, etc. hype that has been prevalent on social media lately.  In the next few days, let us make better sense of things, level the playing field, and inform the voting Filipinos on only the strengths of the declared presidential aspirants.  This way, we can all make more informed and intelligent decisions based on merits; and not on negative social media posts and information.  Please note that this “series” will only carry presidential aspirants who categorically and publicly stated that they will run in 2016. To be perfectly fair, the information used in this “series” will also consistently come from the same source (Wikipedia).

Mary Grace Sonora Poe-Llamanzares (born September 3, 1968), also commonly known as Grace Poe, is a Filipino politician who serves as chairperson of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) from 2010 to 2012.  Born in Iloilo but abandoned by her biological mother at birth, she was later adopted by Philippine National Artist Fernando Poe, Jr. and his wife Susan Roces.

She studied at the University of the Philippines Manila, where she majored in Development Studies, and at Boston College, in the United States, where she graduated with the degree in Political Science.  Poe spent much of her adult life in the United States.  She returned to the Philippines after learning that her father, who ran in a disputed presidential election in 2004, died later that year.

Following her father’s death, Poe permanently returned to the Philippines, where she started getting involved in politics.  She began attracting national attention for pursuing he father’s fight for closure over the results of the 2004 election, which he believed he rightfully won, and campaigned against further electoral fraud.

In 2010, she was appointed by President Benigno Aquino III to be the chairman of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB), where she advocated for a progressive agency that would promote a culture of intelligent media viewership, while at the same time supporting the further development of the country’s film and television industries.

In 2010, Poe launched her candidacy for a seat in the Senate, running in the 2013 senatorial election as an independent affiliated with the Team PNoy coalition of President Aquino.  Although initially faring poorly at the start of the campaign season, she unexpectedly won a seat in the election with the most votes out of all the candidates.

Mary Grace Poe was born on September 3, 1968 in Iloilo City.  Her biological parents are unknown and she was found abandoned as a baby by a woman, allegedly in the holy water font of Jaro Metropolitan Cathedral, the main church of the city.  When the infant was discovered, the parish priest named her “Grace” in the belief that her finding was through the grace of God, she was christened by Jaime Sin, the Archbishop of Jaro and later Archbishop of Manila.  Although the cathedral issued an announcement in the hopes that her biological mother would claim her, no one stepped forward.  Grace was taken in by the Militar family, with Sayong’s in-law Edgardo, who is a signatory on the child’s founding certificate, being a possible father.  Chayong Militar later passed Grace on to her friend Tessie Ledesma Valencia, an unmarried, childless heiress of a wealthy sugar baron from Bacolod, Negros Occidental.

Valencia was also friends with film stars Fernando Poe, Jr. and Susan Roces (real name: Jesusa Sonora), who were newlyweds at that time; Valencia was a big fa of Roces, and the former would bring Grace on frequent trips between Bacolod and Manila.  The Poes took Grace in after Valencia decided the baby would be better off with two parents in the Philippines, than with her as a single parent in the United States, where she was moving to.  Militar was initially hesitant in letting Poe and Roces adopt Grace because she was not familiar with them, having entrusted the baby to Valencia, but was convinced by Archbishop Sin to let the couple adopt her.  Poe was later legally adopted by the couple after further efforts to search for her biological parents failed, and attended elementary school at Saint Paul College of Makati.

Poe grew up in the shadow of her parents, with her father starring in several action films throughout the 1970s, and her mother also being regarded as an accomplished actress in her own right.  She grew up watching her father from the sets of his movies --- even playing minor roles in some of them, such as the daughter of Paquito Diaz’s character in Durugin si Totoy Bato (“Crush Totay Bato”), and as a street child in Dugo ng Bayan (“Blood of the Nation”).  Although she contemplated becoming an actress throughout her childhood, her father wished that she finish her studies first before entering the entertainment industry.  Ultimately, Poe did not enter show business, in an interview with People Asia, she recalls that “Even if A aspired to be in showbiz, I felt physically (inadequate) being compared to (my parents).” 

In 1982, Poe transferred to Assumption College San Lorenzo for high school, where she competed in a number of oratorical contests and was captain of the school’s debating team in her senior year.  By the time she graduated from Assumption in 1986, she decided instead to pursue public service in order to set a different career path for herself, as well as to avoid being compared to her parents.  Following high school, Poe entered the University of the Philippines Manila (UP), where she majored in development studies.  While at UP, she served in the student council as a class representative for the two years she was there.  She later decided to continue her undergraduate studies abroad both to experience and prove her independence, and as a form of silent rebellion in order to avoid the possibility of shaming her parents.  She transferred to Boston College, where she graduated with a degree in political science in 1991.  While at Boston College, she co-founded the school’s Filipino Culture Club and served as an intern for the campaign of William Weld in the 1990 Massachusetts gubernatorial election.  After graduating, Poe continued to reside in the United States, living a quiet life with her family in Fairfax, Virginia.  In 1995, she was hired by the Montessori School of Cedar Lane, a local school where she worked for three years as a preschool teacher.  She then served as a procurement liaison with the United States Geological Survey in 1998, where she worked for a year.  In 2001, she was hired as a product manager with CSC Scientific, a local company specializing in the production os scientific equipment, where she stayed until 2004.

In 2003, Fernando Poe, Jr. announced that he was entering politics, running for President of the Philippines in the upcoming election under the Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP) against then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.  Poe returned to the Philippines to help him campaign, but returned to the United States afterward.  However, as Fernando Poe, Jr. was rushed to the hospital after a stroke later that year, she immediately retrned to the Philippines, only to arrive after her father died on December 14, 2004.

Following her father’s death, Poe and her family decided to permanently return to the Philippines in order to be with her widowed mother.  In 2005, she was made Vice President and Treasurer of her father’s film production company, FPJ Productions, and was put in charge of maintaining the company’s archive of over 200 films, reportedly one of the best in the Philippines in terms of the number of films preserved.  At the same time, she began getting involved in politics herself, particularly after allegations arose that her father’s loss was caused by electoral fraud committed by the Arroyo administration.  In the 2010 general election, Poe served as a convenor of Kontra Daya, a poll watchdog organized to prevent electoral fraud, and spoke publicly about wanting to prevent further cheating in the elections like the way her father was allegedly cheated in 2004.  She also became honorary chairperson of the FPJ for President Movement (FPJPM), the group which was organized to pressure her father to run in 2004, continuing the movement’s social relief programs for the less fortunate.

On October 10, 2010, President Benigno Aquino III appointed Poe to serve as chairwoman of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB), succeeding out going chairwoman Ma. Consoliza Laguardia, who was appointed to the position in 2003.  The appointment came as a surprise to Poe, having learned of her appointment while vacationing with her mother in California only two days before the formal announcement was made.  She was sworn in on October 23, 2011.  She continued to serve until October 2, 2012, when she filed her candidacy for senator.

While at the MTRCB, Poe had advocated for a “progressive” agency which would have enabled the television and film industries to help the Philippine economy, with her tenure being marked by an emphasis on diplomacy.  At the beginning of her term, Poe instigated the implementation of a new ratings system for television programs, which she said was “designed to empower parents to exercise caution and vigilance with the viewing habits of their children”.  This was complemented by the implementation of a new ratings system for movies --- a system which hews closely to the new television ratings system --- at the end of her term.  The MTRCB under Poe’s tenure also implemented policies and programs to promote “intelligent viewing”, such as promulgating the implementing rules and regulations for the Children’s Television Act of 1997 some fifteen years after its passage, and enforcing restrictions on the type of viewing material that can be shown on public buses.  Despite this thrust, Poe has spoken out against restrictions on freedom of expression, preferring self-regulation to censorship.  The MTRCB under Poe’s tenure has also encouraged the creation of new cinematic output through the reduction of review fees despite cuts to its budget, and has promoted the welfare of child and female actors.

Although Poe was rumored to be running for an elective position as early as 2010, it was not confirmed that she would stand for election until October 1, 2012, when President Aquino announced that she was selected by the administration Team PNoy coalition as a member of their senatorial slate.  Poe filed her certificate of candidacy the next day on October 2, 2012.  Although running under the banner of the Team PNoy coalition, Poe is officially running as an independent.  Poe is also a guest candidate of the left-leaning Makabayang Koalisyon ng Mamamayan.  Until February 21, 2013, Poe was, along with Senators Loren Legarda and Francis Escudero, one of three common guest candidates of the opposition United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) of Vice President Jejomar Binay.  Analysts have noted the rapid rise of Poe in national election surveys, which community organizer Harvey Keh attributed to popular sympathy for her father, fuelled in part by high public trust in the Poe name.  Prior to the start of the election season, Poe was ranked twenty-eighth in a preliminary survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) in mid-2012, before the start of the filing period.  Immediately after filing her candidacy, Poe initially ranked fifteenth in the first survey of the election, published by StratPOLLS.  While she has ranked as low as twentieth in a survey published by SWS later in the year, she entered the top 12 in January 2013, where she has stayed since then.  In the last survey issued by Pulse Asia in April, she was ranked third.

While Poe herself has admitted that her biggest strength in the campaign is her surname, she has also conceded that it would be insufficient for her to be elected simply on that alone, emphasizing that her platform is just as important as her name in getting her elected to the Senate.  She has also dismissed claims that her candidacy is her family’s revenge against her father’s loss in 2004, saying that all she wants to do is serve should she be elected to the Senate.  A day after the election, Poe became a senator-elect when the results from the PCOS machines emerged.  She was officially proclaimed a senator by the COMELEC board on May 2013, along with fellow Team PNoy candidates Chiz Escudero, Sonny Angara, Alan Peter Cayetano, and Loren Legarda, as well as United Nationalist Alliance candidate Nancy Binay (who did not attend, opting instead to send her lawyer to represent her.)

In the 2013 elections, Poe ran on an eleven-point platform focused on poverty alleviation, youth opportunity and electoral reform, promising to continue the legacy of her father.  Her labor legislative agenda also includes more opportunities, skill development and growth for Filipino workers, employment security for the disabled and handicapped, and protection of workers in the informal sector.  Specific policies she advocated in the course of her campaign include reviving the national elementary school lunch program first introduced during Marcos Era, the installation of closed circuit television cameras in government offices, a stricter penalties against child pornography, continuing her earlier advocacy during her time st the MTRCB.  In addition, she has also advocated against Internet censorship.  Poe also stressed the importance of female participation in government, having already files a number of legislations for the betterment of women and children in her term of office; she has also called for an investigation on the proliferation of cybersex dens that prey on children and women, and an inquiry on the condition of women detainees and prisoners.  “Effective leadership can be gleaned not just from the progress of a few but the advancement of the majority, especially those who find themselves in the fringes,” Poe said during a speech delivered at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) on May 28, 2015.  This was attended mostly by female leaders and entrepreneurs.  “It is important for women to have genuine meaningful participation in public affairs.  Women leaders lave an invaluable take on issues of public interest.”  Grace Poe stands against same-sex marriage.

She is widely speculated to be a potential presidential or vice presidential candidate in the 2016 general elections (and thus seen as the closest competitor to Vice President Jejomar Binay’s own presidential aspirations) with possible running mates such as Rep. Leni Robredo and Senator Mirian Defensor-Santiago.  Poe placed first on a presidential poll issued by Paulse Asia on June 2015 with a rating of 30%, outranking previous frontrunner Vice President Jejomar Binay, who had 22% rating.  She also placed first in the vice-presidential poll, with a 41% preference nationwide.  In a survey issued by Social Weather Stations (SWS) on June 2015, Poe also placed first, with a 42% preference.  She also placed first in SWS’ vice –presidential poll, with a 42% rating.

Poe has two half-siblings born from her father: Ronian, born to actress Ana Marin. And Lourdes Virginia (Lovi), born to model Rowena Moran.  Although she did not grow uo with her half-siblings, even admitting that she met Lovi for the first time only after their father died, she has known of them while growing up, and they respect each other despite not being close to one another.

Poe is an avid reader, she has read all the books of David Baldacci, who she describes as her favourite author, but she has read books from a wide variety of genres and authors.  She is also an avid film aficionado, watching all kinds of movies but with particulas affinity for action films, conspiracy movies, movies starring her father, and movies with happy endings.  Poe is a tennis player and also has a black belt in taekwondo, having competed in tournaments while in high school.

Poe met Teodoro Misael “Neil” Llamanzares in her senior year of high school.  The two started dating thereafter, and married five years later on July 27, 1991, immediately after Poe graduated from Boston College at the age of 22.  The marriage went against the wishes of her father, who wanted her to have a career first before marrying.  Poe gave birth to her only son, Brian, on April 16, 1992, and later gave birth to two daughters: Hanna in 1998, and Nikka in 2004. --- Wikipedia

Allow me to reiterate that my purpose in the “Presidential Aspirants Series” is to give the opportunity for the public to be exposed on the merits and governance skill sets of perceived presidential aspirants in next year’s election.  And now that you’ve read this piece together with the articles on the other presidential aspirants, are you for Grace Poe?

Thoughts to promote positive action…

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REFERENCES:

Antonio, A. C., (2015). “This Has To Stop”.  Retrieved on August 12, 2015 from http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/2015/08/this-has-to-stop.html

Wikipedia, (2015).  “Grace Poe”.  Retrieved on August 12, 2015 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Poe


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