The results of the DNA test of Senator Grace Poe to identify her biological parents and resolve the question on her citizenship are not yet available—even as the filing of the certificates of candidacy for next year’s elections starts on Monday.
“We have not completed the process yet because there are several persons who are being considered for testing,” Poe said.
She did not say when she is going to file her candidacy for the presidency, but she said she will respect the law.
“If it can be proven that I am not qualified, which should be based on the law, I will immediately leave my position,” Poe said.
Poe on Thursday also said the government should provide new college graduates a one-stop shop for employment requirements like social security numbers, police and NBI clearances, PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG memberships, tax identification number s and other documents from the National Statistics Office.
Those requirements should also be given out for free to indigent graduates, she said.
Poe said the new graduates have to deal with the stress and anxiety of finding a job. Providing them a one-stop shop for employment requirements would be the least the government could do to make things easier for them.
“The biggest number of jobless is found in the youth sector,” Poe said.
She earlier said she underwent DNA testing with “siblings” whom she refused to identify.
Defeated senatorial candidate Rizalino David had asked the Senate Electoral Tribunal and the Comelec to disqualify her from the Senate, insisting she is not a Filipino citizen.
But in insisting she is a Filipino citizen who was found in a church in Iloilo, Poe said she is fighting not only for her rights but for the rights of hundreds of thousands of foundlings in the country who do not know their parents.
“If I lose this case they will be with me, and I don’t think that will be fair,” Poe said.
The senator, who was adopted by the late actor Fernando Poe Jr. and his wife actress Susan Roces, said she only wants to help.
“I really want to help our people,” she said.
“If I lose in the SET or the Supreme Court, who am I to say that I should be here [in the Senate]? But I hope they wont forget that More than 20 million voters gave their trust to me. This is a mandate which I respect.”
Poe said the disqualification case filed against her was meant to stop her from running for President as a result of her popularity in the surveys. She topped the senatorial race in the 2013 elections.