Poe backs senatorial bets Tito, Bam, Pia at grand FPJ rally

Senator Grace Poe on Sunday showed support for three senatorial bets belonging to three different parties—former Senate president Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, former senator Bam Aquino, and Senator Pia Cayetano—at the FPJ Panday Bayanihan party-list grand rally in San Carlos, Pangasinan.

Poe said the three were among those who supported her when her place in the Senate was contested due to her being a "foundling." Poe was adopted by film stars Fernando Poe Jr. and Susan Roces after being found in a church in Iloilo as a baby, and her nationality had been questioned in the past as a result.

“Nung nagkaroon ng issue na tatanggalin ba ako sa Senado dahil hindi nila alam kung sino biological parents, silang tatlo, Senator Pia, Senator Bam, at si Senator Tito Sotto ang mga bumoto para manatili ako doon, kaya malalaman mo yung integridad,” Poe said.

"Yung politika namin iba-iba. Bali wala ang politika kung ang iyong pinaglalaban ay katotohanan," she added. 

(When there was an issue of removing me from the Senate because they didn't know who my biological parents were, the three of them, Senator Pia, Senator Bam, and Senator Tito Sotto, voted for me to stay, so you will know their integrity. We have different political backgrounds. There is no politics if what you are fighting for is truth.)

Sotto belongs to the Nationalist People's Coalition while Aquino and Cayetano are under the Katipunan ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino and Nacionalista Party, respectively.

Continue the programs

Sotto said he would return to the Senate to oversee the implementation of the “Doktor Para Sa Bayan” Act, a measure he filed that offers scholarships for aspiring doctors.

He added that he would also push for a measure that would grant a 14th-month pay, eradicate fake news and fake content, and combine the Dangerous Drugs Board and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.

Meanwhile, Aquino said if given a seat in the Senate, he would expand the implementation of the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act, which provides free tuition in public universities and colleges.

For her part, Cayetano said she had been supporting Poe’s feeding program. — BM, GMA Integrated News

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