The clock is ticking for independent presidential candidate Grace Poe. After DNA testing for probable relatives in Iloilo failed to match, the senator asked for another extension from the Senate Electoral Tribunal hearing the citizenship disqualification case against her. Granted a 13-day grace period, she is at this crucial point, fighting for her political life wherein she might even be unseated as senator. Coming out No.1 in the 2013 senatorial elections may have been heady for Grace Poe and she might have overreached her goal and level of competence.
When she turned down Senator Ferdinand Marcos. Jr.’s offer to have himself DNA tested to lay to rest persistent rumors she is the daughter of the former president, Grace Poe has narrowed her options to prove her citizenship. Her husband Neil Llamanzares has not renounced his American citizenship and the family may be looking at a return to private life in the States.
The last window open to Poe is if Rosemarie Sonora, her rumored mother, steps up to submit herself to DNA. But that would, like the proverbial Pandora’s box, open a can of worms. Or maybe not. After all, an extended family is nothing new in this country’s politics and showbiz world. Joseph Estrada got elected President despite public knowledge of his mistresses and the children he sired outside his marriage. His two half-sibling sons—Jinggoy and Jayvee—were even elected senators. His mistress Guia Gomez is mayor of San Juan City. Only in our permissive Philippine society!
Rosemarie, the former Sampaguita Pictures film star is retired, remarried to an American and living quietly in the States. It is doubtful she would submit to a DNA test and disrupt an otherwise tranquil life to get dragged into the dark world of Philippine politics. But one never knows about a mother’s instinct. She could still do right by Grace by coming clean and redeem herself for abandoning her child. IF the story is true. If Rosemarie does come out and prove Poe’s progeny, it would make for a dramatic denouement that could surpass even the viral AlDub craze. It will certainly add to Grace Poe’s underdog image and gain more votes from telenovela-addicted Filipinos. Otherwise, Grace Poe’s dream of the Presidency is dashed by her not being qualified as a Filipino citizen as required by the Constitution.
“Ang bagong umaga ay di na darating…” might as well be the revised refrain of her supporters. Poor Chiz Escudero for thinking he had hitched his wagon to an unbeatable star. He may now find himself a political orphan stranded with no party willing to adopt him. Is that why Chiz was reportedly talking to vice president and United Nationalist Alliance presidential candidate Jojo Binay whom Escudero supported against Mar Roxas in the 2010 VP race?
Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. when asked whether he would allow himself to be DNA -tested because of persistent rumors he and Grace are half siblings, good naturedly said: “Why not, and if our DNA test match, I say welcome to the family!” drawing laughter at the Senate weekly news forum. Like his father, Bongbong knows how to work a crowd. As a young reporter, I remember then-presidential candidate Ferdinand Marcos during a 1965 campaign. In his stirring, stentorian voice, Marcos told a crowd at a public schools athletic meet in Tacloban: “You’re only accidentally Leytenos by birth, while I am a Leyteno by choice for marrying a native of Tacloban.” The crowd roared its approval. Marcos was of course referring to Imelda Romualdez who will be remembered for initiating the construction of the Philippine International Convention Center which will be the venue of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference being hosted by Manila. To think Marcos critic Ninoy Aquino chided Imelda for having an “edifice complex” for the construction of several buildings during her watch as Metro Manila governor! Aside from the PICC, Imelda is also credited for putting up the Cultural Center of the Philippines for the performing arts and the Philippine Heart Center.
Lying embalmed in a crypt in Batac, Ilocos Norte, Marcos must be smiling. Not only will he have a son a breath away from the presidency, he might even have at the same time a daughter for president! What a touch of irony that the destinies of Bongbong and Grace are intertwined.
Imelda Marcos, it was said, exalted in Handel’s “Messiah” and its intoxicating hallelujah chorus of “…And he shall reign forever and ever …And he shall reign forever and ever…” Will George Frideric Handel’s fitting composition fill Malacañang’s music room again?