MANILA, Philippines – Now that it’s practically set President Benigno Aquino III will endorse the presidential bid of Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II, all eyes are on survey front runner Senator Grace Poe.

And the question people are now asking is not exactly her decision but what her famous and respected mother, actress Susan Roces, has to say on her plans for 2016.

Only saying that her mother’s inputs in her political decisions are very important to her, Poe left reporters in suspense during a chance interview on Thursday, July 30.

“Magugulat kasi kayo kung ano’ng advice n’ya, kaya hindi ko na lang sasabihin,” Poe said. (You will be surprised what her advice is, so I won’t say it.)

Roces and the late actor Fernando Poe Jr adopted Poe as a newborn. 

In 2004, Fernando Poe Jr ran for president but lost to incumbent Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in what was believed to be a rigged election. In 2013, Grace Poe ran for senator and emerged No. 1.

At the time, she told Rappler that she was monitoring the results of the senatorial polls in a room with her mother, at her parents’ house.

Aside from Roces, the senator said, another person who influences her is her husband Neil Llamanzares, an executive with San Miguel Corporation.

Still, she said, she will make and be ultimately responsible for her own decisions.

“Malaking bagay ang kanilang payo sa akin at ‘yung nararamdaman nila. Pero ako naman po pinalaki ng aking mga magulang na magkaroon ng matibay at sariling pananaw kung ano ba sa tingin ko ang tama,” Poe said.

(Their pieces of advice and feelings are important to me. But my parents raised me to have my own strong, personal sense of what is right.)

In an earlier text to Rappler, the senator said Roces hardly intervenes with her political life.

“She will vouch for me when the time comes, but, right now, she only reminds me on a personal level – that I should remain true to myself and to the people,” Poe said. 

Poe said on Thursday she is very thankful for her mother’s support. 

“Kaya nga po ako’y nagpasalamat [na] sabi ng nanay ko, kung ano mang desisyon mo, suportahan taka, susuportahan kita,” Poe said. (That’s why I’m very thankful that my mother says, “Whatever decision you make, I will support you.”) – Rappler.com