Letting Grace be Grace

Barely a week before the official filing of the certificates of candidacy, politicians of all stripes are scrambling to cobble together their respective groups that, hopefully, would be most palatable to voters by the time elections roll around in May next year. 

The latest Social Weather Stations and Pulse Asia surveys indicate that Sen. Grace Poe continues to lead the pack of presidential aspirants composed of Vice President Jojo Binay, Secretary Mar Roxas and former Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.

What sparked the imagination of political observers early on—Senator Grace’s even temperament and bearing, sincere and incisive manner of speaking, plus the hard work she has put in the Senate—have led supporters to rally behind her.

Perhaps picking up the scent of a winner, all sorts of personalities have begun trooping to her doorstep.

Some of these politicians are worthy additions to the Poe bandwagon, like Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares whom Senator Grace formally endorsed as her first senatorial bet in 2016. His reputation as a lawmaker in the House of Representatives is rock-solid.

However, there are some characters that come with heavy baggage, like former An Waray Partylist Rep. Florencio “Bem” Noel. Major issues hound this fellow who lost miserably to Alfred Romualdez for mayor of Tacloban City in 2013, after terming out or completing his third consecutive term in Congress.

His sister Victoria Isabel Noel, An Waray Partylist second nominee, was the subject of a “letter of eviction” sent to House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte for allegedly taking a seat in the chamber despite not having a Certificate of Proclamation from the Commission on Elections.

At the time, the Supreme Court had ordered the Comelec to reserve seats amid the pending case of the Abang Lingkod partylist. How Bem Noel, a Poe’s campaign strategists should be careful not to let the appearance of morally compromised individuals destroy her early promise as the herald of hope and change. They should be more discerning of personalities out to hitch a wagon to a rising star.

Senator Grace also has to assert her independence. She cannot be the beta to anybody’s alpha, especially those with the tendency to speak from both sides of their mouth. She must not say or do things that would reinforce the perception that she is being manipulated by other parties.

I think a simple back-to-basics approach is needed. Her handlers must re-capture the essence of what makes Grace Poe. What exactly fired up the imagination of her supporters, in the first place?

I believe these are her humility and genuine empathy for the poor and the middle class. Her feeding program for children in public schools and the crusade to improve the services of the MRT and LRT mass-transit systems resonated strongly with the masa.

She also displayed a great deal of competence and decisiveness in the Senate hearings on the Mamasapano affair. It showed that she came to work prepared. It was obvious from her questions that she did her homework prior to the investigation on the massacre of the 44 SAF troopers.

And she did not mince words when she declared that President Aquino was ultimately responsible for the death of the Fallen 44. Beneath the lady’s soft-spoken appearance lies a steely reserve.

Some people criticize Senator Grace for being too ambitious, being on her first term at the Senate. But let us not forget that a first-term senator from Illinois by the name of Barack Obama was elected to the White House as the first black US President in 2008.

Letting Grace be the Grace that voters recognize—humble, empathetic, hard-working and decisive—will be the key to her victory in Malacañang.