Kris Aquino mulling a Senate run?

MANILA, Philippines — Kris Aquino on Wednesday said that she was still praying about a possible run for an elected office, although she admitted that it might be better for her not to seek a Senate seat to prevent alienating her supporters.

In a video posted on Facebook, Aquino said that she could be the voice of many Filipinos, but she admitted that she had contracts, some of which had just been signed, that would prevent her from running for elected office.

“Maybe my voice matters. I have contracts, contracts that prevent me from running, contracts that I signed, but maybe you need a voice. I’ll pray. I will pray about what is best for me to do,” Aquino, sister and daughter of two former presidents, said in a mix of Filipino and English on the video.

“Maybe it’s better if I don’t ask for a position, for me not to become an elected official for you to continue listening to me. Because if I become part of the Senate, you will say that I have become just like them,” she added.

Aquino said that currently she and her supporters were on equal footing as they all had experienced being oppressed and disrespected.

The celebrity is currently in a war of words with Assistant Communications Secretary Esther Margaux “Mocha” Uson for the latter’s disrespect of the memory of her father, former Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., who was murdered at the Manila airport now bearing his name in 1983.

The spat between the two started when Uson posted on her Facebook page on June 4 a video comparing President Rodrigo Duterte’s recent controversial kiss with a married Filipina in South Korea with the smack that Aquino Jr. received on the cheeks and the lips just moments before he was assassinated on August 21, 1983.

Uson questioned why critics did not blast Aquino Jr. for the kiss in the same way that they were slamming the chief executive.

This prompted Aquino to call out Uson for reviving the hurt she felt for not being able to kiss her father before he died.

Presidential aide Christopher “Bong” Go said that he and the president had already apologized to Aquino for the video.

Uson however remained defiant and refused to apologize, contradicting Go’s earlier assertion that a sorry was on its way.

Aquino said Uson was probably right in saying that the issue was not about her.

“Mocha, I’ll end this. You’re right. This was not about Kris Aquino. This is a reminder that Filipinos still love and respect Cory and Ninoy Aquino,” she said at the end of her video.

Aquino belongs to a prominent family of politicians which has produced two presidents, former Philippine leaders Corazon “Cory” Aquino and her son Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III. She is also a cousin of Sen. Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV.