GRACE POE AND SONNY ANGARA
The week that took The Sunday Times Magazine on two very interesting gatherings.

The first was an intimate dinner hosted by seasoned movie producer Lily Monteverde of Regal Films for former MTRCB Chairman Grace Poe-Llamanzares; and the second, the well-attended launch of Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara as endorser of local personal care brand Ever Billena.

In both instances, The Sunday Times Magazine had the opportunity to sit down with two of the youngest candidates for the Senate in 2013’s general elections, and gain some perspective on their respective personalities and advocacies to help readers prepare themselves in making informed choices.

Adoption’s champion
Early this month, the daughter of Philippine Movie’s King and Queen, the late Fernando Poe Jr. (FPJ) and Susan Roces, touched the nation when she admitted on national television that she is adopted. Grace Poe Llamanzares, who had just filed her candidacy to run for the Senate the month before, did so with such dignity and sensitivity, which earned her the admiration of many.

Poe was only a grade school student when she learned that her famous parents were not her real parents, and she did so in quite a cruel way.

“I must have been in Grade 1 or 2,” she recalled during the sit down interview with The Sunday Times Magazine. “One of my classmates used it as an insult and told me, ‘Ampon ka lang!’ I was devastated but when I went home to my mom and told her about it, she explained to me that being adopted doesn’t mean she or my dad loves me any less, or that I’m any less of a person. I grew up remembering that.”

The rest of her life served as proof of what Poe’s mother had told her. FPJ and Roces showered her with unconditional love and gave her only the very best. Poe was educated in the best schools, completing elementary and high school at Assumption College in Makati; pursuing BA Development Studies at the University of the Philippines; and finally earning a diploma in BA Political Science at Boston College in Massachusetts, USA.

With her famous parents as her no. 1 fans, she was always given the confidence to excel in her interests. Poe was a champion elocutionist and debater; and a valued member of the student council in her high school years; and as a foreign student, she co-founded the Filipino Cultural Club of Boston College.

“Tama naman po ang naging pagpapalaki nila sa akin [they raised me well],” she humbly acknowledged. “I was raised without the stigma of being adopted and I owe it to my parents and to the parents of other children whose lives turned out well to make this my advocacy.”

A known champion of women and children—most especially during her highly commended tenure as Movie and Television Review and Classification Board chairman—Poe has already looked into the flaws of the country’s adoption laws, and prepared amendments should she be given the chance to serve in the Senate.

(Poe is credited for the “Strictly Parental Guidance” rating for television shows, as well as pushing for the positive portrayal of women, among other notable accomplishments in her post).

“The process of adoption in our country takes years because it has to go through the court system,” elaborated the 44-year-old wife and mother. “It should be an administrative process that involves social workers so that more parents will be encouraged to adopt.”

As for her message to orphans, Poe related, “When [Department of the Interior and Local Government] Secretary Dinky Soliman asked me to give a talk on adoption, I told the kids, ‘You know who are adopted? Babe Ruth, Nelson Mandela, Steve Jobs, and even Jesus Christ.’ They are all achievers and they are all adopted.”

She also imparted the importance of being grateful to adoptive parents. “I will always be grateful to my biological parents for choosing life when they had me, but utang na loob ko kung sino ako sa nagpalaki sa akin [I owe who I am to my adoptive parents].”

So much is Poe’s gratitude to her parents that she dedicates her candidacy to the legacy of her late father who she believes would have been a “brilliant president.” (FPJ ran against former President and new Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo in the highly controversial and hotly contested 2004 elections).

“My father campaigned and won in our people’s hearts and minds. He declared that poverty was ‘the biggest scandal in the country.’ He hoped for [a] ‘bagong umaga para sa ating bayan [a new dawn for our country].’ But he was robbed of the chance to serve. He did not live long enough to see the dawn of his dream. I share my father’s dreams. Ang inumpisahan ng tatay ko, tatapusin ko [I will finish what he began].”

Education’s son
The empowerment of the Filipino through education and employment has long been the advocacy of three-term Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara. The numerous bills he authored and have been passed as laws, underscore this vision of a country with better opportunities for all.

It’s also in support of this cause, according to the 40-year-old Angara, that he accepted the offer of local personal care and cosmetics brand Ever Billena to join their roster of endorsers. He is now the face of the company’s eau de toilette for men, Blackwater Elite.

“Ever Billena is a proudly homegrown company that provides jobs for many Filipinos,” acknowledged the namesake of veteran statesman, Sen. Edgardo Angara. “Moreover, their products are affordable and targeted for the masses, which is why it gives me great honor to become one of their endorsers.”

The congressman further related that his province is grateful to Ever Billena for recognizing Aurora as a significant market.

“It has only been in recent years that the travel time to Aurora has been cut down to three to five hours from the original eight, because of the addition of roads,” he explained in Filipino.

“But up to now, we have no Jollibee to speak of in the province, and we only get our copies of national newspapers in the afternoon.”

Nonetheless, Angara shared that Ever Billena had set up shop in Aurora, thereby affording the province a wider range of goods, and more importantly, providing many of his constituents economic and employment opportunities.

“It goes without saying that I believe in this company and I truly hope that many more companies will follow their example and become willing to expand to far flung provinces around the country.

Certainly, the young Angara, who is also a lawyer, comes across as a straightforward and logical thinker. Following his rationale, economic opportunities will allow more Filipinos to send their children to school, who in turn can qualify for jobs, and ultimately break the cycle of poverty.

According to Angara, the importance which he places on education is rooted in his family background. His mother, Gloria Angara, was a public teacher who eventually became the chairman of the Cultural Center of the Philippines. His father, the senator, was also a former president of the University of the Philippines.

“I practically grew up around educators, which explains my advocacy.”

If elected to the Senate one of immediate goals is to create a law that will easily grant student loans for the youth to help generations to come to realize their potential.