Poe hopes DNA results will be out this week

VIRAC, Catanduanes, Philippines – Presidential aspirant Sen. Grace Poe is hoping the results of her DNA test will be out this week.

Poe last weekend said the DNA testing was done at an American hospital that has the capability to conduct such procedure.

Her camp asked for two more weeks to submit the DNA test results to the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) after failing to beat the Oct. 21 deadline.

The SET is deliberating on a disqualification case filed against Poe amid questions on her citizenship. The tribunal is set to rule on the case on Nov. 5.

“I’m really worried these days as I wait for the results of the DNA testing,” Poe said at a press conference during a visit here.

She said the DNA testing was not completed as scheduled because the search for probable biological matches has reached abroad.

Her lawyer, Alexander Poblador, earlier said Poe underwent DNA test with possible relatives to determine her pedigree and prove that either of her biological parents is a Filipino citizen.

Poblador said this would debunk the disqualification case filed before the SET by Rizalito David in connection with Poe’s election as senator in 2013.

The results would also prove that she is qualified to run for president in the May 2016 general elections.

Poe said she hopes the DNA testing will turn out to be positive so that her search for her parents will come to an end.

“You love your parents who raised you up and you thank them deeply. But there are times when you also want to know how your biological parents look in real life,” Poe said. “Do I have brothers and sisters because I feel I’m the only one, although I have a half-sibling, Lovi, who I can call my sister.”

She admitted that she would be saddened if the results will turn out to be negative.

“If it’s negative, we have to continue the fight because the premise of our legal defense is not solely based on the results of the DNA testing. We also want to show that a foundling is a natural-born Filipino because that child was found in this country,” Poe added.

No more questions

Poe’s running mate, Sen. Francis Escudero, also hopes the results of her DNA testing will end all questions on her nationality.

Escudero issued the statement amid reports that the SET has extended the time to hear the quo warranto petition filed against Poe until December. 

“Definitely, if the results turn out to be positive and one of her parents is a Filipino, then it’s settled that she is natural-born Filipino,” he said yesterday. “We don’t need to cite theories on international law, treaties or conventions on statelessness.”

Poe was abandoned in the font of the Jaro Cathedral in 1968. She was adopted by movie stars Fernando Poe Jr. or FPJ and Susan Roces. 

Like any adopted person, Poe has been longing to know why she was abandoned when she was still a baby, Escudero said.

The senator also quoted as a legal precedent the opinion of a justice in the case of Poe’s father, FPJ, who ran for president in 2004.

Escudero was then FPJ’s spokesman.

“We should not give to the unelected members of this court the power and right to decide who the next president will be. That decision is best left to the sovereign Filipino people,” Escudero said, citing the legal opinion. – With Christina Mendez