My husband is not a CIA agent – Grace

MANILA, Philippines - He could not have been a secret agent of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as he had never stayed far from her for long periods, Sen. Grace Poe said yesterday of her husband Neil Llamanzares as she defended him from insinuations by Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago that he was involved in clandestine activities for the US spy agency.

“My husband is not with CIA, I beg your pardon,” she said in Filipino on ANC TV. “We’re always together. This is not ‘True Lies’ where the husband would suddenly disappear or hide somewhere else,” she said, referring to the 1990s film on the married life of a secret agent played by Arnold Schwarzenegger.  

Poe said her husband is not the type who meddles in her career. “I know my husband and we can see from his personality that he doesn’t meddle. There are many names in politics that he doesn’t know,” she said. “And maybe if he really is with the CIA, he would have been booted out a long time ago for being useless and for not contributing anything,” she said.

Poe added her husband was set to get his Certificate of Loss of Nationality from the US embassy yesterday.

“My husband has renounced before a public officer in the Philippines and in the US embassy and he is getting his certificate today,” Poe said. Llamanzares has completed all the requisites for the renunciation, Poe added.

“There’s a fee for that. You should be able to file your tax for the last five years. You have to put all those documents together and to submit that so by the time you go there, you have to have it,” she said.

Llamanzares took the oath of renunciation on April 17 before a barangay chairman in Greenhills, San Juan.

Poe, who faced questions on her citizenship and natural-born status when she decided to run for president, maintained that her husband is a natural-born Filipino.

“I’d like to point out my husband is a natural-born Filipino because his parents are Filipinos. It so happened that they studied in the US where my husband was born,” she said.

“They said my husband and my children never voted. Now there was record, they voted,” she said.

The senator also shrugged off Santiago’s claim that all other contenders were “intellectually bankrupt.” She said she may not be as learned as Santiago but she and the other candidates were certainly not intellectually bankrupt.

Despite failing to get endorsement from the Iglesia ni Cristo, Poe said she remains confident of getting sizeable votes come May 9.

She said she respects the decision of the INC, which supposedly votes as a bloc.

No Binay offer

The senator also denied yesterday reports on social media that she has asked Vice President Jejomar Binay to quit the race and encourage his supporters to switch to her side.

“Absolutely not true,” she told ABS-CBN News Channel when asked about the reports. She has reportedly offered to reimburse all of Binay’s election-related expenses.

“I do not have the money to reimburse his expenses, which could amount to billions,” she said.

Poe also said Sen. Francis Escudero remains her vice presidential running mate.

“I believe in his capability as a leader,” she said.

She was commenting on two newspaper advertisements – one partnering her with Roxas’ vice presidential teammate Leni Robredo and the other with Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Asked what the nation would be like under a Duterte presidency, she said she would “still hope for the best, especially when it comes to the (financial) markets.”

“One thing you don’t want is to spook the markets,” she said. 

Wrapping up what she proudly calls a clean campaign, Poe is set to hold her miting de avance at the Plaza Miranda across the Quiapo Church where she has often sought spiritual refuge and where her bid for the presidency officially began.

Poe said the venue may not be big enough to accommodate all her supporters but she insisted on it because the place had a special meaning for her.

Poe said she is proud that she stood her ground and ran a clean and honest campaign in the last three months.

While she often had to defend herself from criticisms and malicious propaganda, Poe said she feels good about herself because she never attacked her rivals personally, but only challenged them on issues.

Poe campaigned in Bulacan yesterday with actor Coco Martin, who reprises the role of Poe’s adoptive father Fernando Poe Jr. in the primetime TV series “Ang Probinsyano.” Martin has expressed support for the senator’s anti-poverty programs.

With two days to go, Poe remains hopeful that people would be enlightened and choose her “Gobyernong may Puso” over a government that is run by a “berdugo” or a corrupt politician or an unimpressive non-performer. 

Poe, who believes in surveys as guide, recalled that she barely made it to the Magic 12 in 2013 surveys but she emerged as a topnotcher in the senatorial race.

She stressed she is ready to accept whatever is decided by the people.   – Marvin Sy, Jess Diaz