Bongbong willing to undergo DNA test for Grace

MANILA, Philippines - Amid reports that presidential aspirant Sen. Grace Poe could be a daughter of Ferdinand Marcos, the former president’s only son and namesake Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is ready to undergo a DNA test to determine if he is related to Poe.

“Sure, I will undergo DNA. That’s no problem,” Marcos said a day after Poe’s DNA test showed negative results from an initial batch of tests from another person in the United States.

Poe is facing several disqualification cases over questions over her true nationality.

Poe is an independent candidate for president while Marcos is running for vice-president in next year’s national elections.

“I don’t see how will that help her but if that will, why not? Wala naman ako makikita sa (I won’t see anything from the) DNA test, anak ako ng tatay ko at nanay ko (I’m the son of my father and mother),” said Marcos, the only son of the late dictator and Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos.

Asked for his reaction if later on the DNA tests on him would match Poe’s, Marcos said he would welcome his Senate colleague to the family.

Marcos and Poe earlier this year separately declared that there is no need to conduct DNA testing for the both of them. Marcos also branded as “urban legend” the rumors that Poe could be a daughter of his late father with US-based actress Rosemarie Sonora.

Sonora is a sister of Grace’s adoptive mother, actress Susan Roces.

The two senators have also made jokes about the issue, occasonally calling each other “Bro” or “Sis.”

For her part, Poe welcomed Marcos’ statement.

“That’s very nice of him,” Poe said when informed about Marcos’ comment.

But Poe said she would not want to hurt anybody by making a joke about her alleged blood relations with the Marcoses, without directly referring to her cousin, actress Sheryl Cruz.

Cruz, Sonora’s daughter with the late Ricky Belmonte, had made a fuss about reports that Poe is actually her half sister.

“Naging biruan namin, yun may mga taong nasasaktan, yung pinsan ko nasaktan dahil sa birong yun pero tignan na lang natin meron pa naman tayong mga (It has become a joke, but it hurt some people including my cousin. But let’s see, we have more) test,” Poe said. “I don’t want also to involve Senator Marcos but I’m happy that he is open to the idea.”

Poe is urging the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) to resolve the disqualification case filed against her by senatorial also-ran Rizalito David.

“We are filing a manifestation with the SET today informing the tribunal that we are no longer presenting DNA results and that we are submitting the citizenship issue for resolution,” Poe’s spokesman Mayor Rex Gatchalian of Valenzuela City said yesterday.

Poe’s camp made the call a day after she admitted that DNA tests on two of her possible closest relatives were negative.

During the oral arguments on the case last Sept. 21, senior Supreme

Court Justice Antonio Carpio, who chairs the SET, said Poe could not claim to be a natural-born Filipino, since being a foundling who was abandoned in a church in Jaro, Iloilo, her parents’ citizenship could not be determined.

The Constitution requires that a presidential aspirant should be a natural born citizen and should have resided in the country for at least 10 years before the election in which he or she is a candidate.

Gatchalian said her principal is confident “that on the strength of our legal arguments, she will hurdle the disqualification case.”

“She volunteered to go through DNA testing to strengthen her legal anchor. But we will win this case solely on at least three legal grounds,” he said.

“First, the Constitution provides that international law principles are part of national law. Under international law, a foundling follows the citizenship of the country where she or he is born,” he said.

He added that such treatment of foundlings is also reflected in the proceedings of the 1935 Constitution.

He pointed out that their second legal argument is that Poe did not have to do anything to “perfect her citizenship.”

Additionally, Gatchalian stressed that the court allowed her adoption by the late actor Fernando Poe Jr. and Roces.

“The court would not have allowed her to be adopted if she were a foreigner,” he said.

He said Poe would still have DNA matching test with “more possible relatives, not for legal purposes but for her own consumption.”

The senator is still tracing her biological parents up to now, he said. 

SET spokesman Irene Guevarra said that the DNA test is important to determine who are Poe’s biological parents.

“If they can submit DNA test showing or proving who the parents of Grace Poe are, or at least one of them, it will solve a lot of problems because any decision that the tribunal might promulgate or will still be dependent whether or not she can prove who her parents are,” she said.

Poe’s lawyer George Garcia recently said that they would no longer ask an extension from the SET for the submission of her DNA test results.

Garcia said that though Poe’s DNA test result is not yet available, she admitted that it turned out negative.

David, who filed a quo warranto case against Poe before the SET, appealed to Poe’s camp not to employ tactics just to delay the proceedings of her disqualification case.

“For months and weeks, Poe has issued several statements, announcing her strong belief that the DNA report would eventually put to rest questions about her citizenship. Now, she is changing tune. Her camp wants to delay the inevitable and is trying to create a scene because of their failure to prove her being a Filipino through DNA testing,” he said. 

Gatchalian also said Poe’s husband Neil Llamanzares is taking steps to give up his American citizenship.

“This issue is being raised against Sen. Poe, so her husband is collating all the needed documents prior to renouncing his US citizenship. As for the US citizenship of her three children, she’s leaving it up to them when they reach legal age,” he said. With Jess Diaz, Sheila Crisostomo, Robertzon Ramirez, Marvin Sy