Life story, movie star father lift Poe in Philippines’ race

MANILA: Her life story could have come straight out of a soap opera. As a newborn, Grace Poe was abandoned in a Catholic church and adopted by movie star parents, giving her a powerful narrative and name that have helped catapult her to front-runner in the Philippine presidential race.
A political newcomer, elected to the Senate just three years ago, Poe has promised to cut taxes, fight crime and offer free kindergarten-to-college education for the poor.
But it is the popularity of her late father, regarded as the king of Philippine movies, and her humble beginnings that appeal to the masses in this country where presidents have traditionally come from the landed gentry and political elite.
The 47-year-old candidate’s campaign speeches are peppered with dialogues from the movies of her late father Fernando Poe Jr., popularly known as FPJ, who often played roles of an underdog battling powerful opponents to champion the poor and oppressed.
He too ran for president in 2004 but lost amid allegations he was cheated in an election many viewed as marked by fraud. He died months later, unable to carry out his battles off the screen.
His daughter is pledging to fight real-life poverty and despair — and her father’s public image is a huge asset in her campaign. “I like her because Fernando Poe is my ideal,” said Eliza Oledan, a laundrywoman with nine children, after hearing Poe a rally in Manila.
“I also like her platform of government, especially that she will make college education free.” One of her children had to stop schooling due to lack of money, Oledan said. Poe’s compelling life story nearly cost her her candidacy, however, when opponents claimed that because she was a foundling, it wasn’t clear that she was a natural-born Filipino, as the constitution requires.
Last month, the Supreme Court declared her qualified to run.
Other detractors have questioned her allegiance because she once renounced her Filipino citizenship to become a naturalized US citizen.
Poe later gave up her US passport to accept a government post. Her husband and children are American citizens.
If elected president on May 9, Poe tells voters she will offer a free lunch program for all public day care and elementary schools, more job opportunities for women and more aid to farmers. She told an audience of mostly college students that she would increase Internet speed in the country, among the slowest in Asia.
And she told businessmen she would improve infrastructure and push to amend the economic provisions of the constitution that discourage foreign investments.
“I think I can deliver on those promises,” she told The Associated Press. “Filipinos should really have a leader that unifies.”