Poe considers Aquino’s view, not LP’s

Senator Grace Poe during a Senate committee hearing (Photo from Poe’s official Facebook page)

MANILA – Amid blatant opposition of several members of the ruling Liberal Party (LP) to support an inexperienced ‘outsider’ as their presidential bid, Senator Grace Poe withheld that President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III’s view was more important than that of the political party.

“When I ran in 2013, I joined that coalition and President Aquino was my guide. If ever I should make a decision and they believe that I am worthy of their support, the most important is the view of the President and not of just a party,” Poe said in an interview with Radyo Inquirer.

Poe also claimed that she will respect whoever Aquino would endorse as his preferred presidential candidate in next year’s national elections.

“Even if he is a friend, I cannot read everything that is on the mind of the President. He is honest, not only with me but also with all his allies. He does not impose himself. He has long been telling me that this will not be easy,” she said.

Poe then clarified that although she considered the President’s endorsement as an advantage in the presidential race, she believed that the decision to seek higher office should first be a personal choice as running the Philippines would not be easy.

“I think the President’s endorsement is a big thing… [But even if] someone you look up to and respect endorses your candidacy, it is still up to you [to make the final decision to run or not],” she said.

Still undecided

As of posting, Poe still has not declared candidacy. She admitted, however, that she has already started thinking about it – about joining the ‘fight.’

Poe reiterated the difficulties her late father Fernando Poe Jr. (FPJ) experienced when he joined the presidential race in 2004, where now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo won.

“[I want to be] careful about the memory of my father and of course the work I have been doing in the Senate,” she said.

“I don’t want to lose these for a decision that is wrong… But what is important to me, I admit, I am thinking of how I could help people. And will I be able to cope with this because it was not easy for my father in 2004,” she added.

It can be recalled that FPJ was criticized by his detractors in the 2004 presidential elections as a mere movie star with no capability to run the country. They also questioned his citizenship for having an American mother.

In the coming national elections, Poe has also been repeatedly lambasted as a newbie in politics with little experience and has been asked to prove her Filipino citizenship being an adopted daughter.