Grace Poe

Mary Grace Natividad Sonora Poe-Llamanzares (born September 3, 1968) is a Filipino politician who served as a senator of the Philippines from 2013 to 2025. An independent, she previously served as chairperson of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) from 2010 to 2012. During her time in the Senate, she chaired several committees, including the Committees on Public Services, Economic Affairs, Public Information and Mass Media, and Public Order and Dangerous Drugs. She promoted legislation on education, child welfare, consumer protection, transportation, public services, and freedom of information, and advocated greater transparency and accountability in government.

The adoptive daughter of actors Fernando Poe Jr. and Susan Roces, Poe studied at the University of the Philippines Manila before earning a degree in political science from Boston College in the United States. She returned to the Philippines in 2004 to assist her father's presidential campaign and remained in the country following his death, campaigning against alleged electoral fraud and later entering public service.

Poe was elected to the Senate in the 2013 Philippine Senate election as an independent affiliated with the Team PNoy coalition, receiving the highest number of votes among all candidates. She was the standard bearer of the Partido Galing at Puso in the 2016 Philippine presidential election. After the Supreme Court of the Philippines ruled that she was a natural born Filipino citizen and met the constitutional residency requirement, her candidacy was upheld and she placed third in the election. She was reelected to the Senate in the 2019 Philippine Senate election, again finishing among the top vote getters.

Early life Poe was found on September 3, 1968, in Iloilo City by a woman, Sayong Militar later passed Grace on to her friend Tessie Ledesma Valencia,

Poe has two adoptive half-siblings through her father. Both of these half-siblings are actors: Ronian, born to actress Ana Marin;

Role in father's 2004 presidential campaign

In 2003, Poe's father Fernando Jr. announced that he was entering politics, running for president of the Philippines in the upcoming election. He ran under the Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP), the opposition coalition against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who was seeking reelection. Poe returned to the Philippines to help him campaign, but returned to the United States afterward.

MTRCB Chairwoman (2010–2012) In the 2010 general election, Poe served as a convenor of Kontra Daya. She was officially proclaimed a senator by the COMELEC board in May 2013, along with fellow Team PNoy candidates Chiz Escudero, Sonny Angara, Alan Peter Cayetano, and Loren Legarda, as well United Nationalist Alliance candidate Nancy Binay (who did not attend, opting instead to send her lawyer to represent her).

Platform In the 2013 elections, Poe ran on an eleven-point platform promising to continue the legacy of her father. Specific policies she advocated in the course of her campaign include reviving the national elementary school lunch program first introduced during Marcos Era,

Senate of the Philippines (2013–2025)

First term (2013–2016) Poe (left) with fellow senators Loren Legarda (center) and Cynthia Villar (right). On her first day as a senator in the 16th Congress, Poe filed a bill promoting film tourism in the Philippines, aiming to make the country a primary shooting location for local and international films. She said that this would generate jobs and promote tourism in the Philippines as well. Poe also filed the "Sustenance for the Filipino child" bill which seeks to give free nutritious meals to children enrolled in public elementary schools and high schools in K-12. It aims to solve hunger and malnutrition which hindered the Filipino youth's potential.

Another notable bill filed by Poe is the "First 1000 days" bill which seeks to protect and support Filipino children in their first 1,000 days after they were born. This addresses the problem of malnutrition of Filipino children by providing nutrition counselling, milk feeding, and other needs of children. In addition, Poe is also pushing for the Freedom of Information bill which will promote greater transparency and lessen corruption in the government. This bill will allow government transactions to be open to the public.

In 2015, Poe led the legislature's investigations into the Mamasapano clash, which left 44 Special Action Force members dead.

Senate (2016–2025) In November 2016, Poe voted in favor of a resolution, filed by senator Risa Hontiveros, which sought to reject the burial of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

In February 2017, she voted in favor of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act (TRAIN Act). After the inflation rate increased due to the law, Poe said that she voted in favor because President Duterte 'needed funds'. On October 15, she filed her certificate of candidacy for senator.

In 2019, after the 2018 Philippine third telecommunications provider bidding, Poe chaired the committee which allowed the telecommunication franchise of Mislatel, composed of China Telecom and businessman Dennis Uy's Udenna Corp and Chelsea Logistics. The approval was controversial because of the company's connection to China, Chinese security threats, and its violations to Philippine franchise laws. Despite this, on February 6, Poe gave the green light for the company's endorsement to the plenary.

2016 presidential campaign

Poe was widely speculated to be a potential presidential or vice presidential candidate in the 2016 general elections, with possible running mates such as Rep. Leni Robredo and Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago. Poe placed first on a presidential preference poll issued by Pulse Asia In June 2015 with a rating of 30%, outranking previous front runner Vice President Jejomar Binay, who had a 22% rating. She also placed first in the vice-presidential poll, with a 41% preference nationwide. In an opinion survey issued by Social Weather Stations (SWS) in June 2015, Poe also placed first, with a 42% preference. She also placed first in SWS' vice-presidential poll, with a 41% rating.

On September 16, 2015, Poe, together with Francis Escudero, declared her presidential bid, in front of hundreds of supporters, family and friends at the Bahay ng Alumni, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City under the newly coalition of Partido Galing at Puso, composed of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan and is led by the Nationalist People's Coalition. Former Philippine President and Mayor of Manila Joseph Estrada has given his support to her. On her speech announcing her presidential bid, Grace Poe laid down a 20-point program of government if she would be elected.

Qualification

In June 2015, United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) interim president and Navotas Representative Toby Tiangco claimed that Poe lacked the 10-year residency requirement for a presidential candidate. There was an issue about Poe's certificate of candidacy (COC) for senator in 2012 for the 2013 Philippine Senate Elections, in which she had stated that she had been a resident of the Philippines for six years and six months. The decision was affirmed on December 3, 2015. In their judgment on the case, the SET declared that Grace Poe, a foundling, is a "natural-born Filipino", which allowed her to retain her seat in the Philippine Senate. David filed a motion for reconsideration to reverse the ruling by SET, which was rejected on December 3, 2015, On December 1, 2015, the COMELEC's second division disqualified her as presidential candidate due to failing to meet the "10-year requirement" for residency. Under COMELEC rules, the party or coalition supporting her may file a substitute before December 10, 2015. On December 11, the commission's first division also disqualified Poe. The first division, voted 2–1 in favor of the petitions to disqualify and cancel her certificate of candidacy. These decisions were appealed to the COMELEC en banc, which on December 23, 2015, formally disqualified Poe from running as president in the 2016 elections for failing to meet the 10-year residency requirement. Poe said she would appeal the disqualification to the Supreme Court. On December 28, 2015, the Supreme Court issued two temporary restraining orders against the decision of the COMELEC en banc.

On March 8, 2016, voting 9–6, the Supreme Court voted to affirm Poe' natural-born status and 10-year residency. On April 9, 2016, the Supreme Court declared their ruling as final and executory.

Personal life Poe worked as a preschool teacher at a local Montessori education-style school in 1995. In 1998, she left her job as a teacher to work as a procurement liaison officer at the United States Geological Survey. She reacquired her Philippine citizenship and in October 2010, she renounced her American citizenship, as per Republic Act 9225. Poe's name appeared in the 2012 2Q Quarterly Publication of Individuals Who Have Chosen to Expatriate.

Family Grace Poe-Llamanzares and her family with President Benigno Aquino III at her oathtaking as MTRCB chairwoman in 2010.

Poe married Teodoro Misael Daniel "Neil" Vera Llamanzares on July 27, 1991. He is a veteran of the United States Air Force who served from 1988 to 1991 and later worked for Science Applications International Corporation. He worked for San Miguel Corporation after the return of his wife to the Philippines.

On April 16, 1992, Poe gave birth to her son, Brian, a legislator representing the FPJ Panday Bayanihan party-list and a former reporter for CNN Philippines. She later gave birth to two daughters: Hanna in 1998, and Nika in 2004.

Political positions

Electoral history