Amazing Grace

When the votes swept in in the hours after the polls closed on May 13, and in the morning after when the trend in the partial and unofficial count was solidified, many were surprised at who topped the senatorial elections: Grace Poe-Llamanzares.

The only child of the late Movie King Fernando Poe Jr. and his wife Susan Roces, Grace never ran for public office before. Though she was once chairman of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board, Grace is, in many ways, a freshman in politics. This is her first stab at an elective position, and she never topped any pre-election surveys.

And so the numbers that came in after Election Day amazed even Grace herself.

“Am still grasping all that is going on!” Grace texted this writer after I asked her how she felt the morning after the elections, with her leading the count with 14,655,588 votes as of 5:45 p.m. Tuesday.

“Am truly surprised, happy and grateful,” she added.

Grace had lunch the day after the elections at the Milky Way restaurant in Makati, owned by the family of her best friend and Assumption High School classmate Malu Gamboa. (Let me just proudly say Grace and Malu were my students when I taught Literature at the Assumption in 1985. Oh my gosh, how many teachers could lay claim to having a Senate topnotcher as one of her former students — so forgive my bragging today).

Grace and Malu were shrieking like high school students when they saw each other, as if they had just topped their trigonometry exams. And then some.

You see, even Malu didn’t expect Grace to top the elections. She saw how Grace struggled when she placed ninth or 10th in the surveys, and how grateful she was when her showing improved.

The mood of the lunch, where Grace was joined by her son Bryan, was one of “elation,” says Malu.

***

Grace was captain of the debating team at Assumption and took up Political Science at the Boston University. You could say she was interested in politics even before her father was. When FPJ ran for President in 2004, Grace admitted she was “probably the only excited family member.”

 â€œIn high school, I would do social action work,” Grace told me in an interview a few years ago. “And when I saw my dad doing it in his own unofficial capacity, I thought his entering politics was just a more organized way of helping more people. I knew that he was sincere and honest enough that despite a lack of formal education, that would have spelled a difference. When former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani came here and gave a talk, he said the first important criteria for a leader is sincerity and the desire to help. Because you may have all the titles, you may be so intelligent but if your goals are for yourself what’s the point?”

Grace, her husband Neil and their children Bryan, (now 21), Hanna  (now 15), and Nika (now nine), were living in the US when FPJ passed away in 2004. His death was a turning point in her life — the reason she told Neil that they had to return to the Philippines for good.

With mother, Susan Roces and kids Nika, Hanna and Bryan in 2008. Photo by harold tapan

And the rest is now Philippine history.

***

On the 18-hour flight she took to Manila from the US after she learned that her father had just died from a stroke, Grace was inconsolable. In between her sobs, she struck a conversation with her seatmate, who told her she was on her way to Bangkok to adopt a child.

Grace suddenly stopped crying. Looking into her seatmate’s eyes, she said, “Do you know that I am also adopted?”

Then she told her seatmate, who had metamorphosed from a stranger to a friend in a matter of minutes, that she was going home to bury the father who adopted her.

The woman beside her then said, “Can I give you a hug?”

And she comforted Grace throughout the flight, telling her that she has an adopted sister herself and that her sister brought so much joy to their family.

When she got to Manila, Grace rushed to her father’s side in the hospital. She hugged his lifeless body and whispered, “Thank you Papa for the hug.”

Grace knew, from the depths of her grieving heart, that her father had wanted her to know, through the stranger on the plane, that as he had reassured her many times before, “That even if I was adopted, I was the best thing that ever happened to him and my mom.”

After FPJ’s death, Grace was more convinced than ever that she should raise her family in the Philippines.

“It was really my dad’s death that prompted us to come back. You know, life is short and then after seeing millions of people sympathizing with us, I started thinking, ‘What are we doing in the States? This is where we belong. This is one big family.’ And if my dad, in the last days of his life, was dedicated towards probably fulfilling his dream of making the lives of his countrymen better, we should do no less. If only my dad saw the people at his wake — who repaid him in a way that we didn’t really expect...”

The outpouring of grief and support at FPJ’s wake and funeral made Grace and Neil realize that, “This is where our children should have their roots. That’s the legacy that they have.”

It’s been almost nine years since the passing of “Da King,” and Grace has stayed in touch with those who were close to him. Unlike her mother Susan, who had made a firm decision to retreat from politics, Grace never closed her doors to it.

Political heavyweights descended on her 40th birthday party at El Cirkulo restaurant in Makati City, leading to speculations that she was being drafted to join the opposition’s senatorial ticket in 2010. During her 44th birthday party last year, also held at Milky Way, no less than President Aquino came to celebrate with her.

Grace was never coy about the possibility of her running for office. She told me in 2008: “There are a lot of those who supported my dad who are really sometimes hopeless, sometimes desperate. Sometimes they look up to anybody who can continue the vision of my dad and I feel very flattered and honored that somehow they feel that it has to be a family member. They tell me, ‘Since your mom really doesn’t want to get into it, maybe you can.’ As I’ve said in the past, politics has always interested me.

“In Boston College, I took up Political Science. Before that, in UP, I took up Developmental Studies. I was a Freshmen Assembly chairman and I was doing all these things that probably leaned more toward public service than showbiz.”

Susan Roces gave her this piece of advice when she showed her inclination towards politics: “You have to be emotionally ready for politics and you have to make sure you handle your campaign properly because you know what happened to your dad.”

***

Grace Poe Llamanzares is now senator of the land. Unlike her father, whom many believe was cheated of victory in 2004, Grace has claimed her destiny. With her amazing showing at the 2013 elections, people are already looking at her chances for higher office in 2016.

I once asked her if she thought FPJ would have approved of her finishing what he started?

“I think he would have been supportive of anything that he felt that I excelled in, especially if I could show him that I knew what I was doing...” Grace replied, adding with a smile, “You know,  my dad was my biggest fan.”

(You may e-mail me at [email protected].)