Grace Poe denies ties to late President Marcos

Senator Grace Poe on Thursday dismissed persistent rumors that she's the love child of the late former President Ferdinand Marcos and her aunt Rosemarie Sonora.

"Wala akong dahilan para isipin na iyan ay totoo dahil nga sa mga kwento na rin ng aking mga magulang at mga kakilala,” Poe told reporters in Cebu when asked about the decades-old gossip.

Poe said she understood why her cousin, actress Sheryl Cruz, was hurt by the rumors that Sonora was her biological mother.

Sonora is the sister of Poe's adoptive mother Susan Roces.

“Lumabas ang aking pinsan, sinabi niya na nasasaktan siya na ang kanyang nanay ay nahahalo dito sa kwentong ito,” Poe said.

"Hindi ko din naman ginusto iyan, naiintindihan ko na masakit nga," she added.

Poe is the subject of a disqualification case before the Senate Electoral Tribunal. The basis of the case are questions on her being a natural-born Filipino.

The senator is a foundling, a fact that is being used by her critics to question her status as a natural-born Filipino.

Poe has announced that she will run for president in 2016.

Cruz in a recent interview said her mother, who was also an actress like Roces, was often seen in public around the time Poe was born in 1968.

She said the rumor hurt her because it meant her mother had an extra-marital affair.

Cruz also expressed the opinion that it was not yet time for her cousin Poe to seek the presidency.

Poe said the late dictator’s son and her colleague Senator Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. treated the gossip lightly.

“Si Senator Bongbong mismo tinanong siya (ng media) kung papayag ba siya magpa-DNA test, sabi niya ayaw daw niya kasi he wants to be a part of an urban legend," Poe said.

"Wala ngang dahilan para isipin iyon na chismis lang talaga noon,” she added. —Amita O. Legaspi/NB, GMA News