54 Facts About Grace Poe

Mary Grace Natividad Sonora Poe-Llamanzares is a Filipino politician, businesswoman, educator, and philanthropist serving as a senator since 2013.

Grace Poe was the chairperson of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board from 2010 to 2012.

Grace Poe studied at the University of the Philippines Manila, where she majored in development studies, then moved to Boston College in Massachusetts, United States where she finished a degree in political science and has spent much of her adult life in Fairfax, Virginia.

Grace Poe began pursuing her father's rights over the results of the election and campaigned against alleged electoral fraud.

Grace Poe ran for a seat in the Philippine Senate during the election in 2013 as an independent affiliated with the Team PNoy coalition of Benigno Aquino III.

Grace Poe ended up winning more votes than other candidates and over 20 million votes, ahead of Loren Legarda, who previously topped two elections.

Grace Poe was a candidate for the 2016 presidential election.

In May 2019, Grace Poe was reelected as senator, with over 22 million votes.

Grace Poe was found on September 3,1968, in Iloilo City by a woman, in the holy water font of Jaro Metropolitan Cathedral, the main church of the city.

Grace Poe was eventually taken in by the Militar family, with Sayong Militar's in-law Edgardo, who was a signatory on the child's foundling certificate, considered to be her possible father.

Grace Poe was legally adopted by the actors Fernando Grace Poe, Jr.

In 1975, Grace Poe attended elementary school at Saint Paul College of Pasig and Saint Paul College of Makati.

In 1982, Grace Poe transferred to Assumption College San Lorenzo for high school.

Grace Poe transferred to Boston College, where she graduated with a degree in political science in 1991.

Grace Poe interned for Bill Weld's campaign while in college.

Grace Poe returned to the Philippines to help him campaign, but returned to the United States afterward.

Grace Poe immediately returned to the Philippines, only to arrive shortly after her father had died on December 14,2004.

Grace Poe became honorary chairperson of the FPJ for President Movement, the group which was organized to pressure her father to run in 2004, continuing the movement's social relief programs for the less fortunate.

On October 10,2010, President Benigno Aquino III appointed Grace Poe to serve as chairwoman of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board.

Grace Poe was sworn in on October 21,2010, at the Malacanang Palace and was later reappointed by President Aquino for another term on October 23,2011.

At the beginning of her term, Grace Poe instigated the implementation of a new ratings system for television programs, which she said was "designed to empower parents to exercise caution and vigilance with the viewing habits of their children".

The MTRCB under Grace Poe's tenure implemented policies and programs to promote "intelligent viewing", such as promulgating the implementing rules and regulations for the Children's Television Act of 1997 some fifteen years after its passage, and enforcing restrictions on the type of viewing material that can be shown on public buses.

Grace Poe filed her certificate of candidacy the next day on October 2,2012.

Until February 21,2013, Grace Poe was, along with Senators Loren Legarda and Francis Escudero, one of three common guest candidates of the opposition United Nationalist Alliance of Vice-President Jejomar Binay.

Immediately after filing her candidacy, Grace Poe initially ranked fifteenth in the first survey of the election, published by StratPOLLS.

Grace Poe dismissed claims that her candidacy was her family's revenge against her father's loss in 2004, saying that all she wants to do is serve should she be elected to the Senate.

Grace Poe 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.

Grace Poe stresses the importance of female participation in government, having already filed a number of laws for the betterment of women and children in her term of office; she has called for an investigation on the proliferation of cybersex dens that prey on children and women, and an inquiry on the condition of women detainees and prisoners.

On her first day as a senator in the 16th Congress, Grace Poe filed a bill promoting "film tourism" which aims to make the Philippines a primary location for local and international films.

Grace Poe said that this would generate jobs and promote tourism in the Philippines as well.

Grace Poe 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.

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

Grace 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.

On her speech announcing her presidential bid, Grace Poe laid down a 20-point program of government if she would be elected.

In June 2015, United Nationalist Alliance interim president and Navotas Representative Toby Tiangco claimed that Grace Poe lacked the 10-year residency requirement for a presidential candidate.

Grace Poe said she would appeal the disqualification to the Supreme Court.

In November 2016, Grace 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.

On May 17,2018, Grace Poe was among the senators who voted in favor of a resolution calling on the Supreme Court to review its decision granting the quo warranto petition and ousting Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.

In September 2018, Grace Poe announced her bid for re-election in the Senate.

In 2019, after the 2018 Philippine third telecommunications provider bidding, Grace 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.

On May 13,2019, Grace Poe was reelected to the Senate with over 22 million votes, coming in second, only behind fellow Senator Cynthia Villar.

Grace Poe worked as a preschool teacher at a local Montessori education-style school in 1995.

Grace Poe is an avid reader: she has read all the books of David Baldacci, who she describes as her favorite author, but she has read books from a wide variety of genres and authors.

Grace Poe is a film aficionado, watching all kinds of movies but with a particular affinity for action films, conspiracy movies, movies starring her father, and movies with happy endings.

Grace Poe is a tennis player and has a black belt in taekwondo, having competed in tournaments while in high school.

On October 18,2001, Grace Poe acquired US citizenship by naturalization.

Grace Poe reacquired her Philippine citizenship and in October 2010, she renounced her American citizenship, as per Republic Act 9225.

Grace Poe's name appeared in the 2012 2Q Quarterly Publication of Individuals Who Have Chosen to Expatriate.

Grace Poe has two adoptive half-siblings through her father Fernando Grace Poe Jr.

Grace Poe married Teodoro Misael Daniel "Neil" Vera Llamanzares on July 27,1991.

Grace Poe is a veteran of the United States Air Force who served from 1988 to 1991 and later worked for Science Applications International Corporation.

Grace Poe worked for San Miguel Corporation after the return of his wife to the Philippines.

Grace Poe later gave birth to two daughters: Hanna in 1998, and Nika in 2004.

Grace Poe's family lived in Fairfax, Virginia, for 12 years.