No politics in mom’s visit, says Sheryl Cruz

Video by Allan Policarpio

Sheryl Cruz on Thursday denied reports that she and her mother, Rosemarie Sonora, planned to call for a press conference in which they would allegedly vilify and drop “a bombshell” about Sen. Grace Poe, the TV-movie star’s cousin who is currently running for President.

Turning emotional, Cruz admitted that she was hurt by “the lies” being written about her family, and pleaded to just leave them in peace. “We have been quiet for so long…This is too much. Stop dragging our names into the fray,” she said. “We are not running for any position and we have no intention or desire for power whatsoever.”

READ: Sheryl Cruz firm on stand vs Grace Poe candidacy

The 42-year-old actress also insisted that her mother’s recent return to the Philippines was purely for vacation and not politically motivated. Sonora is based in the United States.

“Couldn’t our mother visit us here without it being known to the public? Do people really need to put color into it and claim that she was wooed by some politician to come here?” Cruz said in Tagalog in an ambush interview, shortly after the media presentation of “Once Again,” an upcoming GMA 7 soap opera she will be part of, at the network’s headquarters in Quezon City.

Cruz initially did not intend to grant interviews—aside from the general Q&A about the show—but was cornered by a handful of reporters, including the Inquirer, as the actress made her way to the elevators.

“My mother comes over every two years,” added the Cruz, who had previously aired her misgivings over Poe’s decision to run for the country’s highest position, saying that she thought it was premature for her to do so.

READ: Sheryl Cruz’s tell-all on her cousin Grace Poe aborted

Cruz stressed that Sonora is well within her rights to visit her loved ones in the Philippines—something her mother does “usually every two years.” “We need to be with her. Life is short. We can’t be with her all the time and we don’t know how long we will live,” she said, adding that her mother will be staying in the country until after the elections in May.

Sonora, according to an urban legend, is the real mother of Poe, with the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos as the father. The story has since been denied by Sonora’s elder sister, veteran actress Susan Roces, who legally adopted and raised Poe, together with the late show biz icon Fernando Poe, Jr. CDG