MANILA, Philippines – Presidential aspirant Senator Grace Poe denied the email circulating among journalists on Tuesday, November 3, that she had supposedly pulled out from the 2016 presidential race.

Poe’s campaign spokesman, Rex Gatchalian, said the bogus email was a “desperate” attempt by her opponents to “sow confusion” among the public.

On Tuesday, several members of the media covering Poe received an e-mail allegedly from the senator, informing the public of her decision to withdraw her presidential bid.

The e-mail address used was grace_poe16@yahoo.com. The official account of Poe’s media bureau is mediagracepoe@gmail.com.

“Wala pong katotohanan iyan. Sa katotohanan nga po, patuloy ang aming pagtatrabaho para maihatid ang mensahe natin kung ano ang magagawa natin para makatulong sa ating mga kababayan,” Poe said in an interview with reporters on same day. 

(There is no truth to that. The truth is, we are continuously working to send our message to our country men on what we can do to help them.)

While Poe said she would rather not dwell on who were behind the dirty trick, she called on voters not to believe the “baseless” propaganda.

“Pero sa ating mga kababayan, ganyan siguro talaga ‘pag ikaw ay nagiging banta sa kanila. Siguro nag-iisip sila ng paraan para madiskaril ang iyong mga dapat gawin,” Poe said.

(But to our countrymen, maybe this is what what others come up with when you’ve become a threat to them. They might be thinking of ways to derail what you have to do.)

The letter dated November 3 states:

‘Desperate’

“Clearly, her opponents are getting desperate and are resorting already to cheap cowardly acts that will sow confusion. These sinister minds have begun using all types of mediums to spread lies and confusion,” Gatchalian said in a text message.

This is not the first time Poe received these kinds of so-called attacks. In October, there were text messages circulating that Poe and her running mate, Senator Francis Escudero, supposedly issued statements belittling the call center industry.

Aside from the case already heard by the Senate Electoral Tribunal, Poe is facing at least 4 disqualification complaints  before the Commission on Elections on the basis of her alleged questionable citizenship.

“They started with baseless barrage of DQ (disqualification) petitions to condition the minds of the people, then blast text messages spreading lies, and now bogus emails,” Gatchalian added.

Poe’s camp maintained the neophyte senator would “continue to raise the level of discourse” during her campaign. – Rappler.com